Rand holds steady following emergency budget

South Africa’s rand showed little change, holding steady around the R17.30 mark against the US dollar on Wednesday, following Finance Minister Tito Mboweni supplementary 2020 budget.

This is despite Mboweni announcing that the budget deficit is now forecast to hit a record 15.7% of GDP, due largely to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on economic activity.

Read: SA’s budget deficit hits record 15.7% of GDP

The currency started the day on the “front foot as risk appetite climbs despite the continued surge in second wave Covid-19 cases”, Andre Botha, a senior dealer at TreasuryONE noted on Wednesday morning.

After trading at around R17.21 to the dollar in early morning trade, the rand weakened marginally by 0.50% to around the R17.33 mark ahead of Mboweni’s emergency budget speech.

Read/Watch the Supplementary Budget speech