The rand was weaker against the dollar at midday on Thursday after loosing more than 15c on Wednesday after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s medium-term budget policy statement. The minister cut the outlook for economic growth for this year to 0.5% from 0.9% and the budget deficit was predicted to widen to 3.4% of GDP from 3.2%. Gordhan said tax increases and spending cuts would reduce the budget deficit. The rand was trading around the R13.80 level to the dollar ahead of the budget speech, but weakened to R13.9450/$ after Gorhan’s speech. CJS Securities analysts said it was not a growth friendly budget and the JSE lost more than 1% as investors showed their displeasure. "The raising of tax rates to protect the country’s ratings is hurting SA’s financial sector and economy, where they should be focusing on reforms that bolster GDP growth," the analysts said. At 11.31am, the rand was at R13.9349 to the dollar from Wednesday’s R13.8825. It was at R15.2120 to the euro from R15.1418 an...
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