Africa: Currencies grab headlines as economies improve

April was another dramatic month for African currency markets. The rand fell against the US dollar after the sacking of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan prompted a ratings downgrade, before clawing back about half of its losses. And Nigeria’s FX system was further complicated by the addition of yet another official exchange rate, the country’s fifth. The month also saw the release of official figures that provided a clearer sense of how economies were performing in late 2016 an early 2017. On the whole, the latest data suggest that things improved across most of the region. After a long decline, import demand finally picked up in Angola and Nigeria. New GDP figures show that growth remained strong in Q4 2016 in Ghana and in Kenya. One key exception was South Africa. Activity figures suggest that its economy was contracting even before the latest political shock.