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Rand Gets Some Mild Reprieve From De-Escalation Of Rolling Blackouts

ZAR

Spot USD/ZAR has eased off European session highs (ZAR17.1219), with participants watching developments on the Eskom front. The electricity utility announced a de-escalation in its rolling blackouts after pushing back a planned media briefing amid "emergency engagements" with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

  • Eskom said that it will reduce power outages from tomorrow morning and is now going to alternate between Stage 4 and Stage 5 until further notice. It has been running Stage 6 load-shedding since last Wednesday.
  • The utility said that 14 generators are expected to return to service this week, helping alleviate the pressure on the power system. It also bought an additional 50mn litres of diesel earlier this month, which will be used to limit the amount of load-shedding.
  • When this is being typed, USD/ZAR trades at ZAR16.9550, ~1,260 pips above neutral levels, with the technical contours outlined earlier still intact.

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