OHANNESBURG -- South Africa's government of national unity insisted Wednesday it was committed to investor-friendly economic policy following the shock resignation of highly regarded Finance Minister Derek Keys. It also sought to allay lingering concerns in financial markets that the decision to step down by Keys, who cited personal reasons, might mask policy rifts within the cabinet. "There need be no cause for concern that the policies" of Keys "will be abandoned," President Nelson Mandela told reporters, vowing a continuation of present policy. Financial markets, which were hit hard Tuesday as rumors of the minister's resignation swept the country before it was officially announced, remained brittle Wednesday morning. Prominent former banker, Chris Liebenberg will succeed Keys, who had been head of the country's second biggest mining and industrial house when co-opted by Mandela's reformist predecessor, F.W. de Klerk, into the cabinet in 1992.
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