{"id":91917,"date":"2025-10-23T17:17:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T17:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar"},"modified":"2025-10-23T18:19:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T18:19:53","slug":"reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar","title":{"rendered":"Reserve Bank looks to exploit \u2018cheap\u2019 US dollar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago urged credit-ratings companies to recognize the nation\u2019s improved financial position and indicated officials may use rand strength to boost reserves if the chance arises.<\/p>\n

South Africa operates a free-floating exchange rate and does not target the currency, but the central bank would consider taking advantage of \u2018cheap\u2019 dollars or euros to augment reserves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the opportunity avails itself that we can continue to increase our reserves, we would do that,\u201d Kganyago told investors at an SA Tomorrow conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuffice to say that the level of reserves that we have now, considering a number of metrics, is actually adequate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investors have warmed to South African assets in recent months \u2014 helped in part by Kganyago\u2019s announcement in July that the SARB would aim for the bottom of its 3%-to-6% inflation target \u2014 driving government bond yields lower and lifting the rand by 8% against the dollar this year.<\/p>\n

The improvement in sentiment is despite Africa\u2019s most industrialized economy losing its investment-grade sovereign credit rating several years ago \u2014 something Kganyago said should be reviewed in light of the progress it has made in controlling public debt and undertaking pro-growth economic reforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a different conversation with the rating agencies,\u201d now that \u201cwe are having prudent fiscal, prudent monetary policy, a structural reform program that is underway,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we eventually got downgraded by the last agency from investment grade in 2020, their forecast was that debt to GDP will reach 94% by 2025; we are nowhere close to that, we are way less than that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

South Africa achieved its first back-to-back primary budget surplus \u2014 where revenue exceeds non-interest expenditure \u2014 in 16 years in the year through March 2025.<\/p>\n

Its debt ratio to gross domestic product is also expected to peak at 77.4% in the current fiscal year, according to the National Treasury.<\/p>\n

Fitch Ratings \u2014 which has a BB- rating on South Africa and a stable outlook \u2014 said this week it sees the government beating its fiscal deficit target.<\/p>\n

The Treasury anticipates a main budget deficit of 4.6% of GDP for the year through March 2026, higher than the 4.4% forecast by Fitch.<\/p>\n

Budget data for the first five months of the year show a modest spending trend and higher revenue collections, delivering a boost to the public purse.<\/p>\n

Thomas Garreau, Fitch\u2019s director for Middle East and Africa sovereign ratings, told a separate webinar Tuesday this was being driven by efficiency gains at the South African Revenue Service and stronger tax collection from the mining sector, as well as \u201ccontainment measures on primary expenditure, especially on the wage bill and transfers to state-owned enterprises.\u201d<\/p>\n

The improvement in South Africa\u2019s public finances coincides with structural reforms aimed at reviving an economy that has grown by less than 1% a year on average for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will present the National Treasury\u2019s revised economic forecasts when he delivers a budget update on 12 November.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago urged credit-ratings companies to recognize the nation\u2019s improved financial position and indicated officials may use rand strength to boost reserves if the chance arises. South Africa operates a free-floating exchange rate and does not target the currency, but the central bank would consider taking advantage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":91916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-91917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nReserve Bank looks to exploit \u2018cheap\u2019 US dollar - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago urged credit-ratings companies to recognize the nation\u2019s improved f ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reserve Bank looks to exploit \u2018cheap\u2019 US dollar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago urged credit-ratings companies to recognize the nation\u2019s improved f ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-23T17:17:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-23T18:19:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/10\/sm_1761230864.150418.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Reserve Bank looks to exploit \u2018cheap\u2019 US dollar\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-23T17:17:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-23T18:19:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar\"},\"wordCount\":513,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/10\/sm_1761230864.150418.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/reserve-bank-looks-to-exploit-cheap-us-dollar\",\"name\":\"Reserve Bank looks to exploit \u2018cheap\u2019 US dollar - 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