Carlos Fernandes Recently, the South African rand got weaker compared to the US dollar. On March 7, it was worth only 18.636 of SA’s local currency units for one dollar. This drop is thought to be caused by problems like power shortages as well as being put on a list called Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that makes it harder for people to do business in the country.
South African Rand Plummeting in Value
Recently, the South African rand had its worst value against the American dollar this year. On March 7, 2023, it was worth 18.636 rands per dollar. But before that, on January 12th, 2023, it was worth 16.721 rands per dollar – the strongest preparation of the year!
Since the beginning of 2023, the South African rand has not been doing great. It has actually dropped by almost 10%, making it one of the weakest African currencies. Reports say that this is due to some electricity issues in South Africa, causing a lot of people’s homes and businesses to go without power for more than 10 hours at a time.
The blackouts that South Africa is experiencing have been really bad, so the President of the country (Cyril Ramaphosa) decided to appoint a new person called Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as the first Minister of Electricity. Their job is to try and fix this issue of power cuts, as well as coordinate entities that are doing something about finding solutions for it.
President Ramaphosa said that the Minister will have a big job to do. This includes helping different departments and organisations work together on how to deal with the crisis, working closely with Eskom leadership to help improve existing power plants, and making sure to get new sources of energy quickly.
Some people in South Africa think that the recent changes to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) could be why their currency has not been doing well lately. Right now, 18.6 pieces of the South African Rand are worth 1 US dollar. If you want to keep up with what’s going on South Africa and other parts of Africa, you can sign up for email alerts here!
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