Economy of Lesotho Swaziland, Namibia, and South Africa also form a common currency and exchange control area known as the Rand Monetary Area that uses the South African rand as the common currency. In 1980, Lesotho introduced its own currency, the loti (plural: maloti). One hundred lisente equal one loti. The Loti is at par with the rand. Until the political insecurity in September 1998, Lesotho's economy had grown steadily since 1992. The riots, however, destroyed nearly 80% of commercial infrastructure in Maseru and two other major towns in the country, having a disastrous effect on the country's economy. Nonetheless, the country has
Currency manipulator a currency manipulator is by creating public opinion via for example news media. This comes from mostly political reasons or from lobbying activities for organizations with interest in manufacturing industries. The manufacturing industry is most heavily affected when one of the nation’s important trade countries manipulated their currency. Products from that country will be more competitive than from their own nation, which causes a shift of manufacturing to that foreign country. Therefore, lobbyists of the U.S. manufacturing sector are often “bashing” China as a currency manipulator. Evidence for this proposition can be found in an analysis of Ramirez (2013), who