We'll weather the storm: Manuel

South Africa faces a tough two years, but has the right economic fundamentals - including a highly rated financial sector - to weather the current turmoil in global markets, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel told the Sunday Times on the weekend. Speaking to the Sunday Times from Washington, where he was attending the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, Manuel said that while South Africans should expect changes, there was no call for panic. While South African financial markets took a beating last week along with the rest of the world - the rand touched a new seven-year low of R9.49 to the US dollar last week, while the JSE's losses for the year to date climbed to 29% - the country's banks have escaped the worst of the storm, thanks to their lack of direct exposure to US sub-prime debt. Manuel said... [read full story]