Pound Sterling (GBP) has improved its position against the South African Rand (GBP/ZAR) today, hitting a marginally higher result of 0.4%.
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Earlier…
The Pound Sterling to South African Rand (GBP/ZAR) exchange rate has managed to gain today, although in virtually all other pairings the UK currency has trended in a static range.
GBP/ZAR Exchange Rate News: UK’s GDP Stats Fail to Inspire Investor Confidence
Pound Sterling (GBP) has been making limited exchange rate movement overall today, with the exceptions being gains of 0.3% against the South African Rand (GBP/ZAR) and 0.2% against the Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) and Japanese Yen (GB/JPY) and losses of -0.3% against the Romanian Leu (GBP/RON) and -1.1% against the Russian Ruble (GBP/RON).
The biggest economic announcement for the UK today has been the national GDP for the fourth quarter; while this printed at 0.5% on the month and 1.9% on the year as expected, the news was soured by the fact that the UK’s historic growth was scarcely higher than the pre-2008 financial crash level.
South African Rand (ZAR) Slumps as Finance Minister Declares ‘Crisis’ State
The value of the South African Rand (ZAR) has deteriorated significantly of late, mainly due to the words of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan before and during yesterday’s budget delivery.
One of the most damaging developments was Gordhan’s cutting of the country’s growth expectations this year from 1.7% to 0.9%; this was compounded by the introduction of new taxes for purchasing new tyres and for the purchase of sugary drinks.
Summing up the current hard times faced by the country, Gordhan said: ‘We cannot spend money we do not have. We cannot borrow beyond our ability to repay. Until we ignite growth and generate more revenue we have to be tough on ourselves’.
A more positive recent development has been South Africa’s Q4 unemployment rate, which fell from 25.5% to 24.5%. However, this has still done little to alleviate the current pessimism circulating the South African economy.
GBP/ZAR Exchange Rate Forecast: UK Confidence Score due Tomorrow, ZA Trade Data on Monday
The next occurrence likely to have an impact on the pairing will be tomorrow morning’s Gfk consumer confidence survey for February, which was expected to dip from 4 points to 2 at the time of writing.
Looking further ahead, South African input will come on Monday when the January trade balance comes in. Current forecasts are highly pessimistic, with a deficit-inducing movement from 8.22bn to -9.5bn on the cards.
Current GBP, ZAR Exchange Rates
The Pound Sterling to South African Rand (GBP/ZAR) exchange rate was trending in the region of 21.7430 and the South African Rand to Pound Sterling (ZAR/GBP) exchange rate was trending in the region of 0.0459 today.
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