South African rand

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Image:Randcurrency.jpg Image:RandCurrencyR5coinsOldNew.jpg The rand is the currency of South Africa. It takes its name from the Witwatersrand (White-waters-ridge in Afrikaans), the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa's gold deposits were found. It was first introduced in 1961, coinciding with the establishment of the Republic of South Africa. It replaced the South African pound as legal tender, at the rate of two rand per pound or ten shillings to the rand. The rand has the symbol 'R' and is divided into 100 cents, symbol 'c', and is available in denominations of five notes (R10, R20, R50, R100 and R200) and seven coins (5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, R1, R2 and R5). One and two cent coins were also available until their discontinuation in April 2002, primarily due to inflation devalueing them. All prices are now rounded to the nearest 5c and the coins are no longer in circulation.

The first series of rand banknotes bore the image of Jan van Riebeeck, the first V.O.C. administrator of Cape Town. In the 1990s, the notes were redesigned with images of the Big Five. The new notes and coins are also printed in all eleven official languages of South Africa.

In an effort to curb counterfeiting, a new R5 coin was released in August 2004 as well as new banknotes in February 2005. Security features introduced on the coin include a bi-metal design (similar to the €1 and €2 coins, and the British £2 coin), a specially-serrated security groove along the rim and micro-lettering. The new notes also feature a number of new security features.

The rand is the currency of the Common Monetary Area between South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho.

1 Brief exchange rate history
2 Quick facts about the currency
3 External links
4 See also

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Brief exchange rate history

A rand was worth more than a U.S. dollar from the time of its inception in 1961 until 1982, when mounting political pressure combined with sanctions placed against the country because of 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 R1–R1.30 to the dollar until June 1984, when depreciation of the currency gained momentum. By February of 1985, it was trading at over R2 per dollar, and in July that year all foreign exchange trading was suspended for 3 days to try and stop the devaluation.

By the time that State President PW Botha made his infamous Rubicon speech on 15 August 1985, it had weakened to R2.40 per dollar. The currency recovered somewhat between 1986–88, trading near the R2 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 of more than R2.50 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 R3 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 saw it weaken to over R3.60 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 saw it quickly slide to over R6 to the dollar. The controversial land reform program that was kicked off in Zimbabwe, followed by the September 11, 2001 attacks, propelled it to its weakest historical level of R13.84 to the dollar in December 2001.

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 at under R9 to the dollar again, and by the end of 2004 was trading at under R5.70 to the dollar. The currency softened somewhat in 2005, and was trading at around R6.35 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 at under R6 to the dollar once again.

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Quick facts about the currency

Replaced the South African pound in 1961 as legal tender.
Available as 5 notes and 7 coins as of 2006.
Minting of 1 and 2 cent coins was halted in April 2002.
The ISO currency code is ZAR, and the usual notation is the prefix R.
The currency was named after the Witwatersrand gold mining region.
The plural of rand is rand, not rands.
The rand was stronger than the US Dollar until March 1982.
The strongest historic level was on 5 June 1973: R1 bought US$1.49992
The weakest historic level was on 21 December 2001: $1 bought R13.84
The exchange rate on 27 March 2006 was 1 USD = R6.26, 1 EUR = R7.54, and 1 GBP = R10.94 [1]