South African Rand
The Rand has been the currency of South Africa since decimalisation in 1961, when it replaced the South African pound.
- It is divided into 100 cents, although since April 2002 the 1 and 2 cent coins aren't being minted any more.
- The ISO currency code is ZAR, and the usual notation is the prefix R.
- Exchange rate (05/07/2004): 1 USD = 6.12 ZAR
- Exchange rate (22/09/2004): 1 USD = 6.50 ZAR, 1 EUR = 7.96 ZAR
The first banknotes bore the image of Jan van Riebeeck the first Dutch administrator of Cape Town. In the 1980s, the notes were redesigned with images of indigenous big game animals, such as the rhinoceros, lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, etc.
Just after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Rand suffered a dramatic loss against the US Dollar. In December 2001 the Rand reached an all-time low of 1 USD = 13.85 ZAR; since then, the Rand has recovered and regained more than 50% of its value.
In August 2004 a new R5 coin was introduced, in an effort to curb counterfeiting of the old R5 coin. Security features introduced include a bi-metal design (similar to the ?1 and ?2 coins, and the British £2 coin), a specially-serrated security groove along the rim and micro-lettering.
