Rand could strengthen further, says economist
Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop says the rand could strengthen even further.
On Thursday morning, the local currency was trading at R13.50 to the dollar, coming from R19.35 over a year ago.
Bishop says rand's gains have largely been driven by strong commodity prices.
"Yes, clearly the rand could see further strength but also at further risk of further weakness.
"What we are seeing is very strong global positive risk sentiment that is probably driven by very strong commodity prices."
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Bishop adds that the rand could continue to gain more strength through the government's pro-active approach to the economy and investment.
"With the South African economy still weaker and not recovering as we have seen with our very poor performance of our unemployment figures coming out recently, we are not seeing much import demand coming through.
"And that is problematic because we are not seeing that much investment coming through and that is a limitation for economic growth.
"The flip side of course is that we are seeing very strong exports and this can continue for South Africa, but what we need is proactive work from the government on structural reform."
