Foreign political events took centre stage in January, steering the Rand positively in their wake. The Rand steadily gained strength throughout the month averaging R13.57/USD in January versus R13.86/USD in December.
Locally, the Reserve Bank decided to keep the repo rate flat in line with market expectations. Furthermore, the month of December saw a sustained slump in total vehicle sales numbers while the PMI remained below the neutral point. Moving forward, a series of fuel price hikes can be expected in February.