The rand broke through the crucial R18/$ barrier on Wednesday, 19 June – which just happens to be President-elect Cyril Ramaphosa’s Inauguration Day.
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All eyes will be on the rand in the coming days and weeks as South Africa comes to terms with the new ANC-DA-IFP Government of National Unity (GNU) coalition set to govern the country for the next five years.
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Mzansi saw its new 400-member parliament sworn in on Friday, 14 June in Cape Town.
It was an historic day with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) for the first time since the first democratic elections in 1994, having failed to achieve a majority in last month’s election.
At 09:45 on Wednesday, the rand was trading at R17.96/$, suggesting the GNU is off to a good start!
Rand vs major currencies
The table below depicts the rand exchange rate against five other major currencies.
They are the dollar (US dollar), pound, euro, Australian dollar (A$) and New Zealand dollar (NZ$).
| Dollar | R17.96/$ |
| Pound | R22.85/£ |
| Euro | R19.27/€ |
| Australian dollar | R11.98/A$ |
| New Zealand dollar | R11.02/NZ$ |