Rand exchange rates: dollar, euro, pound and yen

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) publishes four rand exchange rates each business day: rand per US dollar, per British pound, per euro and per Japanese yen. A note on SARB's Current market rates page describes them as a weighted average of the banks' daily rates at about 10:30. SARS describes the same source in its notes on average exchange rates: SARB works out weighted average rates from the foreign exchange transactions of commercial banks.

Each figure is a single rate, not a buying and a selling price. That makes it a neutral yardstick for checking what a bank, a bureau de change or a money transfer service charges you.

The ZAR column shows how many rand you pay for one unit of each currency, or for the amount shown next to its code. The change compares that rate with the previous one SARB published. A positive change means the rand weakened against that currency: one unit now costs more rand. If a currency has no rate for the latest date, its row shows the date of its last rate.

To convert dollars to rand, multiply the dollar amount by the rand per dollar rate. To convert rand to dollars, divide the rand amount by the same rate. SARB publishes rand per dollar only; dollars per rand is one divided by that rate.

The result is a reference before costs. A bank or bureau de change usually sells you dollars at a higher rate than SARB's and buys them back at a lower one, and may charge a commission on top. A card payment in dollars is converted at the rate your bank or card network applies, plus any fee in your card terms.

The euro, pound and yen rates work the same way: multiply an amount in that currency by its rate to get rand, and divide a rand amount by the rate to go the other way. Use them to budget for a trip, tuition fees or an online purchase in Europe, the UK or Japan.

One yen is worth a fraction of a rand, so its rate has more decimal places. Round only at the end of the calculation.

SARB's Current market rates page covers these four currencies only, so this page has no rate for the Australian or Canadian dollar. For those, the quote from your bank or transfer service is the rate that applies.

Banks and bureaux de change set their own buying and selling rates through the day, and the market keeps moving after SARB's 10:30 snapshot. The gap between their selling rate and SARB's rate, plus any commission, is what the exchange costs you. Check both before you change a large amount.

For tax, SARS publishes average exchange rates every quarter for foreign currency amounts that the Income Tax Act allows you to convert at an average rate. SARS notes that these averages are not spot rates for the purposes of the Act, so they will not match the daily figures here.

A loan in rand does not change with the exchange rate: what you repay is set by your credit agreement. You can compare amounts and terms from lenders registered with the NCR on loans in South Africa.