South African reforms could push rand higher, central bank chief says
By Karin Strohecker
WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) -South Africa's rand has further room to strengthen if the government in Pretoria pushes ahead with reforms and prudent policies, the country's central bank chiefLesetja Kganyago told Reuters.
The currency of Africa's most industrialized nation has been a top emerging market performer, strengthening some 2.5% against the U.S. dollar ZAR=D3, ZAR= since the start of the year while most of the rand's peers have suffered losses against the greenback.
"There should be positive momentum and that positive momentum is not going to be something just driven by the markets," Kganyago, the governor of the South African Reserve Bank, said in an interview on Thursday on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Washington.
"It's going to be whether government continues to act with resolve and stays the path in terms of prudent policies and structural reforms going forward," he said, adding that momentum for reforms would not just bolster the currency but could also support the country's bonds and stocks.
South Africa's National Treasury announced over the summer a number of reforms in the energy, freight, water, and telecommunications sectors, and has pledged to reduce spending and raise revenue as well as take further steps to lower borrowing over the medium-term period.
The rand has enjoyed broad gains since the African National Congress was forced to forge alliances with other political parties after failing to win a parliamentary majority in an election in May - its first such defeat since the 1994 election that marked the end of white minority rule and apartheid.
"If you restore investor or consumer confidence, it's like a free stimulus for you," he said.
Asked about efforts by South African policymakers to lower the inflation target from the current 3%-6% range, Kganyago said work was underway between the National Treasury and the central bank on arriving at the target, and he was hopeful the process would be concluded next year.
"Where there is absolutely no disagreement on is that the target must be lower. But how far lower?" he said, adding that the out-of-line target meant the country was losing competitiveness.
Reporting by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Paul Simao
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
