Economics
South Africa’s Economic Slump Doesn’t Just Hit South Africans
- Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini’s currencies are pegged to rand
- Funds from customs-sharing pool are major component of budgets
Commemorative South African rand banknotes.
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
South Africans aren’t the only ones struggling through the country’s economic slump.
The fortunes of Lesotho, Namibia, and Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, are beholden to developments in their larger neighbor with their exchange rates pegged to the rand, the worst-performing major currency against the dollar this year. The three nations, together with Botswana, also derive revenue from a customs-sharing pool that gains and falls on South African trade.