Rand breaks through R16 to US Dollar

The South African rand breached the R16/USD level on Thursday morning, which is bad news for the price of technology products in South Africa.

This is the first time the rand has broken through R16 to the US dollar since 11 December, following Jacob Zuma replacing Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene with David van Rooyen.

The rand recovered after Zuma backtracked on the decision, and announced that Pravin Gordhan was replacing van Rooyen.

However, the rand subsequently lost value against major currencies after its recovery.

The weak rand is bad news for the price of tech products in South Africa, which is expected to increase significantly in 2016.

The local iStore has sent a mail to customers informing them that due to the rand’s “dramatic depreciation” against the US dollar, prices of its products will increase.

Esquire CEO Mahomed Cassim said the price of tech products will be affected by the new exchange rate, and this in turn has a ripple effect throughout the channel to the consumer.

More on the weak rand

Rand plummets after Zuma removes finance minister