Pula depreciates against the Rand

Kabelo Adamson

Bank of Botswana (BoB) this Wednesday announced that the local currency, Pula, suffered a 3.6 percent depreciation against the South African Rand.

“The Pula depreciated by 3.6 percent against the South African rand and appreciated by 2.5 percent against the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) over the one-month period to March 2022,” reads a statement from the central bank.

Responding to the news, Head of Research at Motswedi Securities, Garry Juma, told Voice Money that latest developments spell further doom to the local economy and consumers alike.

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“It does not look good for the economy, remember South Africa is a major trading partner for Botswana as we get almost everything from that side, so we are going to see prices of those commodities going up,” warned Juma.

He said this will add to the already high prices which have been going up, noting that the situation is already exacerbated by the Russia and Ukraine conflict which has seen global oil prices skyrocketing.

In February, imports from South Africa accounted for 63.5 percent of total imports for that month or P4 billion of total imports.

Fuel, food, tobacco and beverages, chemicals and rubber products and machinery and electrical equipment are some of the major commodities imported from SA.

Meanwhile, the Pula appreciated by 7.4 percent against the Japanese yen, 3.7 percent against the British pound, 2.6 percent against the Chinese renminbi and 1.9 percent against both the US dollar and the euro.

Over the twelve months period to March 2022, the nominal Pula exchange rate depreciated by 5.4 percent against the South African rand and 0.6 percent against the SDR.

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Against the SDR constituent currencies, the Pula appreciated by 6.9 percent against the Japanese yen, 2 percent against the euro and 1.7 percent against the British pound, while it depreciated by 6 percent against the Chinese renminbi and 2.8 percent against the US dollar.

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