Rand plunges despite broad rally in EM currencies

The South African rand has suffered a large sell-off over the past month, taking it below 9.00/US$ and leaving it at its lowest level against the US dollar in almost four years. Given that policymakers in most emerging markets are worried about currency strength, the weakness appears to have been driven by local factors. The most important of these are continued labour unrest and a widening current account deficit, both of which will keep the rand under pressure in the coming months and quarters.