South African rand losses in the currency to look for higher-yield investments elsewhere and due to concerns over the impact of the economic slowdown in China, South Africa's largest export partner. By mid-January, economists were speculating that the Rand could expect to see further volatility for the rest of 2016. By 29 April, it reached its highest performance over the previous five months, exchanging at a rate of 14.16 to the United States dollar. Following the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union (EU), the Rand dropped in value over 8% against the United States dollar on 24 June 2016, the currency's
Optimum currency area Optimum currency area In economics, an optimum currency area (OCA), also known as an optimal currency region (OCR), is a geographical region in which it would maximize economic efficiency to have the entire region share a single currency. The underlying theory describes the optimal characteristics for the merger of currencies or the creation of a new currency. The theory is used often to argue whether or not a certain region is ready to become a currency union, one of the final stages in economic integration. An optimal currency area is often larger than a country. For instance, part of the