‘No major rand firming’

PRETORIA – South Africa’s rand has not recorded a major strengthening and has moved largely in response to a rapid fall in the US dollar, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Tuesday.

“In real effective relative terms there hasn’t been a major strengthening of the rand to the dollar,” Manuel said at the sidelines of a signing of a tax agreement with Switzerland. He said all commodity producers had strengthened against the weaker dollar and the South African currency was not appreciating as fast as the Australian dollar.The rand touched an 8-1/2 month high of 6,8615/US$ on Tuesday as the greenback edged lower against major currencies on concerns of slower US growth, highlighted by soft jobs data last week.The rand was trading at 6,9300 around 1115 GMT, hardly moved from where it was before Manuel’s comments.Asked about comments by central bank Governor Tito Mboweni last week that the rand was out of kilter, Manuel said the government would want to maintain consistency for exporters.Mboweni told a business meeting in Johannesburg last Friday that a near-three-decade record current account deficit of 7,8 per cent of gross domestic product suggested the rand was “out of kilter, maybe it needs some rebalancing”.The rand lost nearly 10 per cent of its value against the dollar last year, but has recovered from a low of 7,98 it subsided to in October.Nampa-ReutersHe said all commodity producers had strengthened against the weaker dollar and the South African currency was not appreciating as fast as the Australian dollar.The rand touched an 8-1/2 month high of 6,8615/US$ on Tuesday as the greenback edged lower against major currencies on concerns of slower US growth, highlighted by soft jobs data last week.The rand was trading at 6,9300 around 1115 GMT, hardly moved from where it was before Manuel’s comments.Asked about comments by central bank Governor Tito Mboweni last week that the rand was out of kilter, Manuel said the government would want to maintain consistency for exporters.Mboweni told a business meeting in Johannesburg last Friday that a near-three-decade record current account deficit of 7,8 per cent of gross domestic product suggested the rand was “out of kilter, maybe it needs some rebalancing”.The rand lost nearly 10 per cent of its value against the dollar last year, but has recovered from a low of 7,98 it subsided to in October.Nampa-Reuters