27 Sep 2011Economists are divided on whether the rand is heading into dangerous territory – or whether the weaker currency will be a boon to the economy.
The rand, which has traded most of the past week above R8 to the dollar, has been one of the casualties of the rout in emerging markets.
Jeremy Stevens, a researcher at Standard Bank, said Brazil’s real lost 15 percent against the dollar last week, the Russian rouble 12 percent, the South Korean won 10 percent and the rand 9 percent.
Investec group economist Annabel Bishop warned, if the rand weakened further to trade between R8.50 and R9 for the rest of the year, inflation would climb to 7 percent and remain out of the target range for the whole of next year.
http://www.iol.co.za/business/business-news/no-consensus-on-weaker-rand-s-effect-1.1145143
