South Africa and Turkey find themselves in a dangerous place. Our currencies tell the story

[View in browser]( [Mail & Guardian]( M&G Mornings | Thu 18 May   [ron_derby] Some years back, I had the sad, sorry and very often interesting job of being a markets editor, a position in which you are observed with the gainers and losers on the JSE, the strength and weakness of the rand on a daily basis. Of the two, the rand in particular — because of its liquidity — is the most volatile. After a while, you get the idea that daily moves of the rand are not to be followed with your heart; the moves can induce a heart attack. So, I stopped running to the front page every other day with a story of rand decline or gain, unless what I was witnessing was something that I could paint as a longer term and a structural shift in the currency. This helped ease my anxieties about the rand that has been on a weakening ticket for well over a decade. The repricing, I’d made my mind up, was more a matter of emerging market nations losing their appeal because the investment world wanted more US dollars, Facebook, Amazon, Google and anything touched by Elon Musk. (Well, until his Twitter acquisition.) But the latest bout of rand weakness, it’s more than 15% decline this year alone, tells a worrying story. Alongside us, among nations that were branded the “Fragile V”, it’s only the Turkish currency that is on a similarly losing ticket — and has had as bad a sell-off. There’s something brewing in the water. We aren’t in a good neighbourhood, and we are now being thrown into “Cold War” power games to boot. It is time to fret over the rand and the damage its continued depreciation — and particularly at this rapid pace — will do to the country. Keyword, rapid. Ron Derby | Editor-in-Chief [@Ronderby]( [Ramaphosa]( [Ramaphosa’s Russia-Ukraine peace initiative to kick off in June]( Envoys from six African states will shuttle between Kyiv and Moscow to try to secure a ceasefire and peace talks [// Read more]( Articles labelled as Premium are only available to subscribers. [CLICK HERE]( to subscribe Already a subscriber? [SIGN IN HERE]( [PravinGordhan_179798(1)]( [Gordhan refutes claims he knew about Eskom intelligence report]( The public enterprises minister says the former Eskom board chairperson, Malegapuru Makgoba, misled and misinformed parliament and the public [// Read more]( [2234decd-saa]( [SAA does not anticipate a clean audit soon]( The national carrier told parliament that a final draft external audit report is expected at the end of May this year [// Read more]( Recommended Reads Premium [Plastic pollution could be slashed by 80% in next 17 years]( This can be done by 2040 if there are changes in the market, a United Nations report has found This article is only available to subscribers. [View subscription options]( If you are already a subscriber, login here. [// Read more]( [Retail sales decline 1.6% in March as belts are tightened]( The largest negative contributors to the decrease were retailers in food, beverages, tobacco and general dealers [// Read more]( [Conservation potential being ‘squandered’ by SA-India cheetah project]( The controversial 10-year translocation endeavour will drain African cheetah populations and scarce conservation resources, say wildlife experts [// Read more]( [Senzo Meyiwa trial: Application to ban media ‘a publicity stunt’]( Media lawyer says the state’s next witness, who objected to the live broadcast of her testimony, commented on the trial at the Pretoria high court on social media [// Read more]( [SA salaries stagnate amid chronic economic underperformance]( In a five-year review of take-home pay, BankservAfrica found that the average salary has not kept pace with inflation [// Read more]( Pic of the day [Erdogan] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan waves to his supporters from a balcony on May 15, 2023 in Ankara. (Photo by Yavuz Ozden / dia images via Getty Images [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Mail & Guardian Media LTD · 25 Owl St · Braamfontein · Johannesburg, Gauteng 2001 · South Africa