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The SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (sign : R; code : ZAR) is the currency of
South Africa
Historical users of the
South African rand
CONTENTS * 1 Etymology * 2 History * 2.1 Brief exchange rate history * 3 Coins * 4 Banknotes * 4.1 First series * 4.2 Second series * 4.3 Third series * 4.4 Fourth series * 4.5 Fifth series * 5 See also * 6 References * 7 Further reading * 8 External links ETYMOLOGY The rand takes its name from the WitwatersRAND (literally "white
waters' ridge" in English ), the ridge upon which
Johannesburg
HISTORY The rand was introduced in the then Union of
South Africa
BRIEF EXCHANGE RATE HISTORY Value of the
South African rand
A rand was worth US$ 1.40 from the time of its inception in 1961 until late in 1971. Its value thereafter fluctuated as various exchange rate dispensations were implemented by the South African authorities. By the early 1980s high inflation and mounting political pressure combined with sanctions placed against the country due to apartheid started to erode its value. The currency broke above parity with the dollar for the first time in March 1982, and continued to trade between R 1 and R 1.30 to the dollar until June 1984, when depreciation of the currency gained momentum. By February 1985, it was trading over R 2 per dollar, and in July that year, all foreign exchange trading was suspended for 3 days to try to stop the depreciation. By the time that State President PW Botha made his Rubicon speech on 15 August 1985, it had weakened to R 2.40 per dollar. The currency recovered somewhat between 1986–88, trading near the R 2 level most of the time and even breaking beneath it sporadically. The recovery was short-lived, however, and by the end of 1989, the rand was trading at levels more than R 2.50 per dollar. As it became clear in the early 1990s that the country was destined
for black majority rule and one reform after the other was announced,
uncertainty about the future of the country hastened the depreciation
until the level of R 3 to the dollar was breached in November 1992. A
host of local and international events influenced the currency after
that, most notably the 1994 democratic election which had it weaken to
over R 3.60 to the dollar, the election of
Tito Mboweni as the new
governor of the
South African Reserve Bank , and the inauguration of
President
Thabo Mbeki in 1999 which had it quickly slide to over R 6
to the dollar. The controversial land reform program that was kicked
off in
Zimbabwe
This sudden depreciation in 2001 led to a formal investigation, which in turn led to a dramatic recovery. By the end of 2002, the currency was trading under R 9 to the dollar again, and by the end of 2004 was trading under R 5.70 to the dollar. The currency softened somewhat in 2005, and was trading around R 6.35 to the dollar at the end of the year. At the start of 2006, however, the currency resumed its rally, and as of 19 January 2006, was trading under R 6 to the dollar again. However, during the second and third quarters of 2006 (i.e. April through September), the rand weakened significantly. In sterling terms, it fell from around 9.5p to just over 7p, losing some 25% of its international trade-weighted value in just six months. Late in 2007, the rand rallied modestly to just over 8p, only to experience a precipitous slide during the first quarter of 2008. This downward slide could be attributed to a range of factors: South Africa's worsening current account deficit, which widened to a 36‑year high of 7.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007; inflation at a five-year high of just under 9%; escalating global risk aversion as investors' concerns over the spreading impact of the subprime crisis grew; and a general flight to "safe havens", away from the perceived risks of emerging markets. The rand depreciation was exacerbated by the Eskom electricity crisis, which arose from the utility being unable to meet the country's rapidly growing energy demands. By the end of 2014, the rand had weakened to R 15.05 per dollar, partly due to South Africa's consistent trade account deficit with the rest of the world. From 9 December 2015 to 13 December 2015, over a four-day period, the rand dropped over 10% due to what some suspected was President Zuma's surprise announcement that he would be replacing the then-Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene with the little-known David van Rooyen . The rapid drop in value was stemmed when the President back-tracked and announced that the better-known previous Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan , would instead be appointed to the post. Zuma's surprise firing of Nene damaged international confidence in the rand, with it experiencing significant exchange volatility throughout much of January 2016, reaching an all-time low of R 17.9169 to the US dollar on the 9 January 2016 before rebounding to R 16.57 later the same day. The January drop in value was also partly caused by Japanese retail
investors cutting their losses in the currency to look for
higher-yield investments elsewhere and due to concerns over the impact
of the economic slowdown in China , South Africa's largest export
partner. By mid-January, economists were speculating that the rand
could expect to see further volatility for the rest of 2016. By 29
April, it reached its highest performance over the previous 5 months,
exchanging at a rate of 14.16 to the
United States dollar
Following the United Kingdom's (UK) vote to leave the European Union (EU), the rand dropped in value over 8% against the United States dollar on the 24th June 2016, the currency's largest single-day decline since the 2008 crash. This was partly due to a general global financial retreat from currencies seen as risky to the US dollar and partly due to concerns over how the UK's withdrawal from the EU would impact South Africa's economy and trade relations. COINS Main article: Coins of the South African rand A 5-rand bimetallic coin issued in 2004 Coins were introduced in 1961 in denominations of 1⁄2, 1, 2 1⁄2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents. In 1965, 2-cent coins replaced the 2 1⁄2-cent coins. The 1⁄2-cent coin was last struck for circulation in 1973. The 2-rand coin was introduced in 1989, followed by 5-rand coins in 1994. Production of the 1- and 2-cent coins was discontinued in 2002, primarily due to inflation having devalued them, but they remain legal tender. Shops normally round the total purchase price of goods to the nearest 5 cents (in favour of the consumer). In an effort to curb counterfeiting, a new 5-rand coin was released in August 2004. Security features introduced on the coin include a bimetal design (similar to the €1 and €2 coins , the Thai 10-baht coin , the British £2 coin , and the Canadian $2 coin ), a specially serrated security groove along the rim and microlettering. BANKNOTES The first series of rand banknotes was introduced in 1961 in
denominations of 1, 2, 10, and 20 rand, with similar designs and
colours to the preceding pound notes to ease the transition. They bore
the image of what was believed at the time to be
Jan van Riebeeck
The 1978 series began with denominations of 2, 5, and 10 rand, with
20 and 50 rand introduced in 1984. This series had a major design
change. In addition, the series has only one variant for each
denomination of note.
Afrikaans
In the 1990s, the notes were redesigned with images of the Big Five wildlife species; 10-, 20- and 50-rand notes were introduced in 1992, retaining the colour scheme of the previous issue. Coins were introduced for 2 rand and 5 rand, replacing the notes of the previous series, mainly because of the severe wear and tear experienced with low-denomination notes in circulation. In 1994, notes were introduced for 100 and 200 rand. The 2005 series has the same principal design, but with additional
security features such as colour-shifting ink on the 50-rand and
higher and the
EURion constellation . The obverses of all
denominations are printed in English, while two other languages are
printed on the reverses, thus making use of all 11 official languages
of
South Africa
In 2010, the South African Reserve Bank and commercial banks withdrew all 1994 series R 200 banknotes due to relatively high-quality counterfeit notes in circulation. In 2011, the
South African Reserve Bank issued 100-rand banknotes
which were defective because they lacked fluorescent printing visible
under UV light . In June, printing of this denomination was moved from
the
South African Bank Note Company to Crane Currency’s Swedish
division (
Tumba Bruk ), which reportedly produced 80 million 100-rand
notes. The
South African Reserve Bank shredded 3.6 million 100-rand
banknotes printed by Crane
Currency
On 11 February 2012, President
Jacob Zuma
In 2013, the 2012 series was updated with the addition of the EURion constellation to all five notes. FIRST SERIES BANKNOTES OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (1961 FIRST ISSUE) VALUE OBVERSE REVERSE COLOUR LANGUAGE 1 Rand Jan van Riebeeck Lion Brown Afrikaans, English 2 Rand Lion Blue Afrikaans, English 10 Rand Ship Green Afrikaans, English 20 Rand Mine Purple Afrikaans, English SECOND SERIES BANKNOTES OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (1970 SECOND ISSUE) VALUE OBVERSE REVERSE COLOUR LANGUAGE 2 Rand
Jan van Riebeeck
5 Rand
Jan van Riebeeck
10 Rand
Jan van Riebeeck
20 Rand
Jan van Riebeeck
50 Rand
Jan van Riebeeck
THIRD SERIES BANKNOTES OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (1992 THIRD ISSUE "BIG FIVE") VALUE OBVERSE REVERSE COLOUR LANGUAGE SIZE(MM) 10 Rand
Rhinoceros
20 Rand Elephants Mining Brown English, Afrikaans 134×70 50 Rand Lions Manufacturing Red Afrikaans, English 140×70 100 Rand Cape buffalo Tourism Blue English, Afrikaans 146×70 200 Rand
Leopards
FOURTH SERIES BANKNOTES OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (2005 FOURTH ISSUE "ENGLISH ">
* ^ "From Van Riebeeck to Madiba".
News24 . 2012-09-12.
* ^ "The Reserve Bank and the Rand: Some historic reflections".
Resbank.co.za. 29 November 2001. Retrieved 2012-09-05.
* ^ A General\'s Story: from an Era of War and Peace, page 32
* ^ "\'Decimal Dan\' Sings: Catchy Tune Teaches New Currency". The
Spokesman-Review. 10 January 1961. Retrieved 2012-09-05.
* ^ "Exchange Rates Between the
United States dollar
* ^ "
South Africa
FURTHER READING * Krause, Chester L.; Clifford Mishler (1991). Standard Catalog of World Coins : 1801–1991 (18th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873411501 . * Pick, Albert (1994). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money : General Issues. Colin R. Bruce II and Neil Shafer (editors) (7th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-207-9 . EXTERNAL LINKS * South African |
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