What it is
The currency of South Africa, a producer of gold, platinum-group metals and coal. It floats freely and is one of the more liquid currencies of the developing economies. It also circulates in Lesotho, Eswatini and Namibia, whose own currencies are tied to it.
Who issues it
The South African Reserve Bank, established in 1921, issues the rand and sets the repurchase rate through its Monetary Policy Committee.
How it is commonly described
- Emerging market
- Issued by a developing economy; usually a thinner market, with wider spreads and larger swings.
- Commodity-linked
- Issued by an economy whose exports are led by raw materials, so it is often read beside their prices.
- Risk-sensitive
- Commonly rises when investors are confident and falls when they are cautious.
Metals and minerals lead South Africa’s exports, and investors abroad hold a large share of its bonds and shares. The rand is therefore often read beside metal prices and beside the mood towards emerging markets.
These are descriptions people use, drawn from how the currency has commonly behaved. They are not promises about how it will behave.
What typically moves it
- Risk appetite towards emerging markets
- Prices of gold, platinum-group metals and coal
- South African Reserve Bank policy
- Domestic conditions: the supply of electricity, the public finances and politics
- Buying and selling of South African bonds by investors abroad
These are the things people who follow this currency usually watch. They explain how the market works; they do not say what the exchange rate will do next.
The scheduled releases to know
- Monetary Policy Committee decisionPublished by South African Reserve BankExplainer: Rates
- Consumer Price IndexPublished by Statistics South AfricaExplainer: CPI
- Gross Domestic ProductPublished by Statistics South AfricaExplainer: GDP
- Quarterly Labour Force SurveyPublished by Statistics South AfricaExplainer: Jobless rate
- Mining and manufacturing productionPublished by Statistics South Africa
No dates or figures are shown here: each publisher’s own calendar is the authority. The explainers are in Economic Events; a release without a link has no explainer on this site yet.
Its main session
London. Johannesburg keeps hours close to those of Europe, and the rand is busiest in the London day.
At GIO4X
A short history
The rand replaced the South African pound on 14 February 1961, the year the country became a republic. It takes its name from the Witwatersrand, the ridge on which Johannesburg stands and where gold was found. A separate “financial rand” for foreign investors was abolished in 1995, and the Reserve Bank has had an inflation target since 2000.
Words worth knowing
A reference page. Educational information, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. It gives no exchange rate, no interest rate and no forecast.