South Africa: Finance minister in hot waters, rand tumbles

The South African Rand has fallen to a three-week low as investors and the international market closely monitor news that the country’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordan might be shown the door.

The rand plunged as much as 2% to 13.9816 per dollar, the weakest level since August 3, after trading as much as 1.1% stronger earlier.

Despite having had denied that , South African news agencies report that Gordan may face dismissal and espionage charges for setting up the South African Revenue Service’s National Research Group to spy on politicians including President Jacob Zuma.

A weaker rand stokes inflation, which may lead the Bank to increase rates even though it has forecast that the local economy will stagnate in 2016.

Agencies