DHAKA: South African President Jacob Zuma has replaced newly appointed finance minister David van Rooyen with the more experienced Pravin Gordhan in a surprise Sunday night announcement.

On Wednesday, the president sacked previous finance minister Nhlanhla Nene in a move that sent the rand to record lows.

His replacement for less than a week, van Rooyen, was a little-known MP.

The moves come amid widespread concern over South Africa’s struggling economy.

Gordhan was widely respected when he served as South Africa’s finance minister from 2009 until 2014.

His re-appointment sent the currency up, recovering from just over 16 rand to the dollar to about 15 by Monday morning, according to currency site xe.com, reports the BBC

But the new finance minister has a hard job with unemployment currently above 25%, growth sluggish and credit rating agency Fitch recently downgrading South Africa to one notch above ‘junk’ status.

BDST: 1521 HRS, DEC 14, 2015
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