JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s rand on Friday recouped some losses from the previous session, when President Cyril Ramaphosa defended his decision to appoint a minister of electricity to try to end crippling power cuts.
At 1524 GMT on Friday, the rand traded at 18.0525 against the dollar, 0.7% stronger than its previous close.
Ramaphosa’s responses in parliament have done very little to calm market fears, ETM Analytics said in a note.
“It is difficult to argue with anyone suggesting that the rand’s performance reflects the country’s mood at the moment.”
Next week’s budget announcement by South Africa’s finance minister could offer clues on the government’s plans to take on a majority of the debt owed by beleaguered utility Eskom.
Financial support to struggling state-owned enterprises and crimped growth from erratic power generation will mean more wide budget deficits to come, a Reuters poll found on Friday.
The Top 40 and the broader all-share indexes fell more than 1%.
The South African government’s benchmark 2030 bond was weaker in afternoon deals, with the yield up 9 basis points to 10.115%.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Uttaresh.V and Shounak Dasgupta)
