South African Rand Strengthens After Elections
The South African currency climbed this week against the dollar, after the African National Congress, the winning party, is expected to maintain the current economic policies in the country.
In South Africa, for a party to have the right to change the constitution unilaterally, it must reach two-thirds of the votes, and even if the new president Jacob Zuma party did not have it, the ANC still claims that it will not surrender to the opposition parties’ pressure to spend more on welfare and change policies. The party has been governing South Africa since 1994, and significant changes on the country’s budget spending aren’t expected.
The rand is being favored by a combination of domestic and international factors, according to analysts’ statements. Within the country’s borders, the fact that the election occurred calmly in a democratically transparent way, helped an image of stability to be created around South African politics, while, in the international scenario, the situation remains very uncertain, making traders to be constantly searching for assets that are less affected by the global slump consequences.
The USD/ZAR fell from 8.902 to 8.7101 in the intraday comparison, following a two-week trend favoring the South African currency.
If you want to comment on the South African rand’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.
Earlier News About the South African Rand:
- ZAR Trades Near 6-Month High vs. Dollar (2008-07-31)
- Rand Goes for a Fifth Weekly Gain (2008-07-18)
- ZAR Heads for Biggest Weekly Drop (2008-06-06)
- ZAR Gains on Rising National Reserves (2008-04-07)
- Rand Gains for a Fourth Day (2008-03-12)
May 29th, 2009 at 6:47 am
good day.
i am going to work in saudi and my salary will be in dollars. i am south african. how long will the rand be so strong against the dollar and is it expected to get stronger or settle.
thanks
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Andrei Moraru Reply:
May 29th, 2009 at 8:12 am
The dollar might continue falling to 7 ZAR per USD. But in case of the worsening of the global financial crisis the dollar may once again start growing rapidly against all other currencies, including ZAR.
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July 23rd, 2009 at 11:09 pm
I have some money in a money market account in South Africa which I would like to transfer to the US. (I live in California now.) Having noticed the Rand’s recent strength vs the US dollar, I am wondering if now would be a good time to do the transfer, or is it likely that the rate will continue to improve?
[Reply]
Andrei Moraru Reply:
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:35 pm
At least, I wouldn’t expect any serious depreciation from the rand against the U.S. dollar in the next few months.
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