Cape Town — Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus has nailed her colours firmly to the mast of non intervention in the currency market and refraining from support to keep the rand at a particular level .

However, she diplomatically said yesterday that the issue of what could be done to weaken the currency and to change the mandate of the central bank was still open to debate.

Markets should determine the exchange rate, Marcus insisted during her first meeting with Parliament's finance committees.

"It is not the Bank's task or desire to intervene to find a rate we feel comfortable with. We do not do that, and we will not do that," Marcus said.

The governor assumed office 10 days ago in an atmosphere fraught with contest over monetary policy and the role of the Bank and amid concern over the effect of the strong rand .

The currency has strengthened about 25% against the dollar this year and several Cabinet members have expressed their concern -- including Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies , who called for urgent action to staunch the damage .

Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel announced earlier this month he would hold discussions with business and labour on the rand and possible measures to weaken it.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) wants a much weaker rand and interest rates to be cut immediately to stem speculative capital inflows.

Last weekend's summit of the tripartite alliance of the African National Congress, Cosatu and the South African Communist Party decided the mandate of the Bank should be reviewed and broadened from its current focus on inflation targeting.

But Marcus insisted during the parliamentary briefing that the exchange rate was established by market forces. She warned that if one wanted to intervene in the market to achieve a particular level for the currency "people will take you on".

There was no perfect rate and markets determined it. The Bank's activity in the market was limited to building up foreign exchange reserves, she explained.

Later Marcus told reporters global events were a determining factor in the value of the rand.

"It depends on what is happening in the globe. This is not so much a function simply of the rand but of the dollar. You have a very weak dollar ... it is something the world is facing.

"We have major global imbalances at the moment in terms of where money is moving."