Johannesburg - South Africa's government has extended the contract of the National Treasury's Director General Lungisa Fuzile for another term, the cabinet said in statement on Friday.
National Treasury spokeswoman Phumza Macanda told Reuters the contract, due to expire in May, had been extended to May 2018.
Concerns had begun to emerge in financial markets about nd whether President Jacob Zuma's cabinet would extend Fuzile's tenure, after Zuma unexpectedly fired widely respected Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister in December, replacing him with a little known backbencher.
Zuma then backtracked two days later, rehiring Pravin Gordhan as head of Treasury after a huge selloff of South Africa assets and widespread outcry from business, civil society and from within his own African National Congress party.
“The news helps to end uncertainty over the likelihood of imminent change at the Treasury,” chief economist for Africa at Standard Charted Razia Khan said.
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“For ratings agencies it reassures on the ability of the Treasury to execute fiscal consolidation plans, and much more importantly, reinforces perceptions of the strength of the country's fiscal institutions.”
Earlier in April Standard & Poor's, which along with Fitch have South Africa just one notch above subinvestment grade, said recent political upheavals in South Africa posed a risk to its sovereign credit rating.
REUTERS