EDITOR’S VIEW: Hardly a probation covered in glory for new man Gigaba
Gigaba's six months have proved more worrying than anything else
Malusi Gigaba's probation period as the country's finance minister ends today. October marks his sixth month at the helm and I think it's a fair enough period for a judgment to be made. During his term, the rand and equity markets haven't performed too badly. While it has weakened since the end of March, the rand has only marginally declined against the US dollar, falling just under a percent. Gigaba's supporters will be quick to point to this as his success and have claimed that he has managed to halt the dramatic fall in the rand we'd seen since the untidy ouster of Nhlanhla Nene in December 2015. But the real reason for the more sedate rand has been the US dollar, which has had a rather rough patch over most of the year as the much heralded "Trump bump" wore off. Emerging markets have had a better run of it, and that includes the local bourse. The Brazilian real over the period of Gigaba's promotion has reacted in a similar manner to the rand, and both have underperformed the Tur...
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