The rand was slightly firmer against major global currencies on Wednesday afternoon, gaining a little after some positive local data. Retail sales grew faster than markets expected in January, rising 1.2% year-on-year, compared to Bloomberg’s forecast of 1.1%. The Reserve Bank also said that foreign direct investment grew to a five-year high in 2018, with inflows of R70.7bn from the prior year’s R26.8bn.
The financial account surplus fell to 1.3% of GDP in the fourth quarter, but it increased to 2.9% for 2018 as a whole, from 2.4% in 2017, as inflows were recorded across all sub-accounts, said Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking analysts...
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