Rand vs the dollar in 2012

cerebus said:
It's unreal - $8.59 as of yesterday. They're getting thrashed.
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Considering how weak the Dollar is and how strong the gold price is, the Rand is becoming a worthless currency.

8.48 to a Dollar. It's not actually too bad. The Rand is worth considerably less.

Just wait till the demand for gold drops ... :(
 
Space_Chief said:
Considering how weak the Dollar is and how strong the gold price is, the Rand is becoming a worthless currency.

8.48 to a Dollar. It's not actually too bad. The Rand is worth considerably less.

Just wait till the demand for gold drops ... :(
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I wouldn't say worthless. It's still hovering in reasonable territory. 13.7 against the pound and 7.5 against the dollar. It's not performing very well though.

Just wait till the demand for gold drops ...
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..When do you imagine that will be?
 
This sentiment was clearly voiced by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in his medium-term policy statement which indicated that a weaker rand, by 7%, in the first half of 2012 failed to stimulate manufacturing exports.
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LOL.
 
cerebus said:
I wouldn't say worthless. It's still hovering in reasonable territory. 13.7 against the pound and 7.5 against the dollar. It's not performing very well though.
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It's performing well for what we see in SA. Would you invest in SA?

..When do you imagine that will be?
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It will happen. When it does, the Rand will plummet more. Or do you think the gold will be in such high demand into infinity? It's been in demand before and demand had dropped off. These financial crises are not global wars with destruction of human capital and infrastructure. Recoveries will occur.

Those times the Gold price was high before, the racists built infrastructure we are now benefiting from. Now that the gold is so high, what are we building now?

Of course the South African worker could become more productive, demand less, and unions become more sensible. However, as workers become more empowered and more Chinese junk floods our shops, I think people will want higher salaries. Our labour force is not like the Asian labour force who will work WELL for peanuts.

Hope is I gather that as the West recovers then demand for gold decreases, people will invest in SA and buy more of our products (even raw stuff as their own manufacturing goes up). Will that offset it? I hope so.
 
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Fortunately demand for Gold is not going to drop off.
That will ultimately be our salvation.
 
Since 1 Dec 2002 (last 10 yrs) rand is same level vs the dollar and the pound and 20% down vs the euro.
 
Our gold production continues to decline pretty quickly. Hopefully export manufacturing grows at something close to what we lose in mining revenue or the rand will become structurally weak.
 
HavocXphere said:
bru we must be reading different news. SA is heading for a solid period of stagflation. :sick::eek: Glad I don't work for the Res.
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I'm saying this is as good as it will get. That things suck is just indicative of what our best is. Beyond that everything will get worse. Of course I wish SA everything of the best.
 
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Shayd said:
Our gold production continues to decline pretty quickly. Hopefully export manufacturing grows at something close to what we lose in mining revenue or the rand will become structurally weak.
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Export manufacturing is declining in the West. Why should it go up here? With emerging markets in India, China and South America, it makes more sense to make stuff there. Their workforce is also less demanding and more skilled for the same price. Of course one should never put all one's eggs in only one basket, hence diversity of investments will occur but with so many places opening up, like Vietnam but I'm not hopeful about SA in pragmatic terms.

SA will have to face a tough decision. Curtail union powers and tell the voters that the reality is different to the utopian dreams of the 1990s OR become another Zimbabwe in the long term.
 
that's a normalised graph - all values have been divided by their Dec11 or Jan12 values and X100
 
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