Aberdeen Asset Management: South Africa's finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has been sacked Freitag, 31. März 2017 - 14:49

"This isn't a massive surprise. It's been clear for a while that President Zuma has had Mr Gordhan in his sights. But it is still a big setback. It shows once again that Zuma is only too willing to silence critics on phoney pretences. There really is very little left of South Africa's reputation for sensible policymaking. Gordhan was on one of the few bright spots. Now we're left with a choice that may be better than what we got back in December 2015, when this whole issue kicked off, but his replacement will still viewed as someone who will be influenced by Zuma."

"S&P will probably downgrade South Africa's debt pretty soon and that could happen before their scheduled review date of 2 June. The big risk for the country's debt is if Fitch follows suit. If we get two rating agency downgrades you will have forced selling by crossover investors as South Africa would drop out of their benchmark indices, resulting in higher borrowing costs on external and local currency bonds."