DUMA GQUBULE: Hiking rates not the answer to SA’s currency woes
After the collapse of the rand to a record low last week, it is outrageous that there is even debate over whether the SA Reserve Bank should increase interest rates at the next meeting of its monetary policy committee on May 25. Doing so would be the equivalent of a boxer kicking an opponent who is already on the floor.
The rand’s movements seldom have anything to do with the domestic economy. When analysing the currency, the first thing to do is look at what has happened to the dollar-euro exchange rate. But the only news in the US last week was that its inflation rate declined to 4.9% in April. Economists expect the US Federal Reserve to pause rate increases at its next meeting on June 14. ..
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