South Africa in the global currency war

Until August 2010, there was little evidence of sustained foreign exchange accumulation by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), despite increasing disquiet over the South African Rand(SAR) strength, and a growing clamour ahead of the ruling ANC's early September policy meeting for the SARB to intervene more actively in markets.

While a proposed tax on capital inflows came up for discussion at a closed-door session of the ANC meeting, there was little discussion of the ZAR in the press briefings that followed. Instead, mine nationalisation made the headlines. The SARB's absence from foreign exchange markets was attributed to its preference for sterilising any intervention.