The rand has dipped to a new 4-year low, breaking through the R10 to the dollar mark by mid-afternoon on Thursday (30 May).<\/p>\n
The currency has faced a tough 2013, opening on the lows brought about by a stalled mining industry in late 2012, and remains sensitive to the struggling European economy.<\/p>\n
Disappointing quarterly growth figures issued in the week pushed the rand into dangerously low territory on Wednesday (29 May 2013) where it dipped close to R10\/$ during the day.<\/p>\n
By 14h10 on Thursday (30 May 2013), had broken through to R10.0080 against the dollar – its weakest since mid March 2009, and having closed at R9.82 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The rand has already lost more than 15% of its value in 2013, and first dipped to such lows in 2001.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday (30 May 2013), President Jacob Zuma<\/a> called on all sectors of the economy to work harder to strengthen the country’s economic performance.<\/p>\n “We must strengthen economic performance and increase growth,” Zuma said.<\/p>\n “We cannot deliver growth on our own. We need the business, labour, and community sectors to play their part. More importantly, we need all South Africans to play their part.”<\/p>\n Zuma also called for stablity in the mining sector, which has been hit with multiple strikes and wage disputes in the wake of a standoff at Lonmin mines in 2012, which resulted in 34 deaths.<\/p>\n Zuma said all parties should work together to increase economic growth from the 0.9% GDP reported in the first quarter of 2013 to the 2.7% growth targeted by government.<\/p>\nMore on the rand’s performance<\/h3>\n