Rand down on dollar buying

Published Nov 15, 2012

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The rand weakened further yesterday from R8.7960 to the dollar on Tuesday’s close to R8.88 just after 5pm, as the government bought dollars to get the Department of Energy’s planned renewable energy projects off the ground.

On Friday, the government signed the first round of deals with independent power producers, which will add an initial 1 400 megawatts of renewable energy.

The projects required an estimated R47 billion but not all of it would have to be raised abroad, said Bryan Brownrigg, the head of institutional sales at Standard Bank.

The deals had been split among the five big local banks and two offshore banks.

The amount that the government wanted to raise for the first window was unknown. Standard Bank analyst Bruce Donald said the currency was usually under pressure in November. – Ethel Hazelhurst

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