South African rand to US dollar (ZAR/USD)
The rate both ways, how far the rand has moved against the dollar this year, and what that does to a return earned on the JSE. Everything on this page comes from the same snapshot as every other figure on this site — a converter that pulled its own live rate would contradict the stock pages it sits beside.
The rate, both ways
reference rate, 28 Aug 2026, 00:02 UTCMid-market reference rate — the midpoint between buying and selling. No bank, broker or bureau will quote you exactly this figure; the note under the converter below says how wide that gap can run.
This year, against the dollar
since JanuaryThe rand has strengthened 2.5% against the dollar this year — it takes 2.5% less of it to buy a dollar than it did in January.
Why this rate matters on the JSE
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange quotes every listing we track — 439 of them — in rand. This year its All Share Index is +0.8% in ZAR and +3.4% in dollars, and the whole difference between those two figures is this exchange rate. Which one is the return depends on the currency you count your wealth in.
See the Johannesburg Stock Exchange page for its listings and index, or Africa vs World for every index here adjusted to dollars the same way.
Convert
reference rates, 28 Aug 2026, 00:02 UTC1 ZAR = 0.062543 USD
These are mid-market reference rates — the midpoint between buying and selling. No bank, broker or bureau trades at the midpoint, and on thinly traded African currencies the spread you are offered can be several percent wide. Treat this as the yardstick, not as a quote. Where a country operates exchange controls, the official rate may also differ from the rate at which currency can actually be obtained or repatriated.
What a return is actually worth
local currency → dollarsA +40.0% return in ZAR was worth +43.6% to a dollar investor this year.
The ZAR strengthened 2.5% against the dollar since January, which adds 3.6 points to the headline figure.
Computed as (1 + 0.400) ÷ (1 + -0.025) − 1. Subtracting the currency move instead is the common shortcut and it overstates the result — here it would give +42.5%.
Every currency we price in
6 markets · 3 reference| Currency | Market | Per $1 | vs $ this year |
|---|---|---|---|
| BWP | BSEBotswana | 13.585 | +0.3%weaker |
| EGP | EGXEgypt | 50.247 | +5.3%weaker |
| NGN | NGXNigeria | 1,340.0 | -8.3%stronger |
| UGX | USEUganda | 3,703.8 | +5.0%weaker |
| XOF | BRVMUEMOA (8 countries) | 563.0 | +2.1%weaker |
| ZAR | JSESouth Africa | 15.989 | -2.5%stronger |
| CNY | Reference only | 6.737 | -3.9%stronger |
| EUR | Reference only | 0.858 | +1.4%weaker |
| GBP | Reference only | 0.736 | -0.5%stronger |
“Weaker” means it now takes more of that currency to buy a dollar than it did in January — so a return earned in it is worth less to someone holding dollars. This is the single largest reason a headline return on an African market and the return an overseas investor actually received are different numbers.
Every pair we publish
11 pagesAgainst the dollar
naira to dollar (NGN/USD) · Egyptian pound to dollar (EGP/USD) · CFA franc to dollar (XOF/USD) · pula to dollar (BWP/USD) · shilling to dollar (UGX/USD)
Crosses
naira to pound (NGN/GBP) · rand to pound (ZAR/GBP) · rand to euro (ZAR/EUR) · Egyptian pound to euro (EGP/EUR) · CFA franc to euro (XOF/EUR)
Or start from the currency converter, which holds every rate in one table.