The rand touched a three-year high against the dollar in morning trade on Monday, amid reports that president Cyril Ramaphosa could announce a new cabinet this week.<\/p>\n
Ramaphosa is expected announce a cabinet reshuffle in the next week, according to a report by the Mail & Guardian<\/a><\/strong>, with some dramatic changes beyond simply shuffling out his predecessor\u2019s troublemakers.<\/p>\n The local unit hit 11.51\/dollar earlier in the session, its firmest since February 2015. By 09h45, the rand traded at the following levels against the major currencies:<\/p>\n Markets are likely to have continued to react to what was a well received budget speech, which could see the clountry avoid a Moody\u2019s Q1 2018 downgrade.<\/p>\n Fitch meanwhile, said on Friday that South Africa’s budget reverses some of last year’s fiscal deterioration, although it warned that poor finances of state-owned companies remain a major risk to fiscal targets.<\/p>\n Treasury said on Wednesday last week that value-added tax would be raised for the first time in 25 years, as part of efforts to cut the deficit and stabilise debt. “This would represent a partial reversal of recent fiscal deterioration,” Fitch said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Nevertheless, fiscal targets are subject to substantial risks, the largest of which stems from state-owned enterprises, notably the electricity company Eskom, whose medium-term finances are under pressure.”<\/p>\n\n
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