Johannesburg - The Banking Association South Africa has commended President Zuma for listening to the public.
In a statement issued on Monday, the association notes Zuma has recognised the impact of removing former minister Nhlanhla Nene and replacing him with somebody unknown to markets and key constituencies.
Last Wednesday, in a socking move, Zuma axed Nene and replaced him with relative-unknown David van Rooyen.
This shuffle caused the rand to plummet, dropping to a new record low on Friday as it fell through the R16 to the dollar mark.
After Zuma’s Sunday night announcement that he would replace Van Rooyen with the familiar face of Pravin Gordhan, the rand clawed back some losses and was up 4 percent early this morning.
Zuma’s Wednesday announcement also impacted the banking sector, which lost a substantial amount of ground, while R170 billion in value was wiped off the JSE.
Banking association MD Cas Coovadia says “the re-appointment of Pravin Gordhan is very welcome and the banking industry commits to work with him to address the impact of the original decision”.
The association also called on Gordhan to move speedily to rebuild confidence and assure investors that South Africa will continue on the path of fiscal discipline, certainty, consistency and promotion of an environment for job-creating investment.
IOL