With Europe on the verge of recession, the euro has sunk to 20-year lows and is pulling the rand down with it. Not that the rand needed much pulling against the backdrop of industrial-scale load shedding, collapsing confidence, and falling commodity prices.

The eurozone remains South Africa's largest trading partner and so the rand often dances to the euro's tune. And that tune at the moment is the blues.

To wit, the rand has now sunk to its lowest level against the greenback since October 2020, plumbing 16.75/USD on Wednesday afternoon. This is largely because the euro is at 20-year lows and late on Wednesday was almost at parity with the dollar on mounting concerns that Europe's economy is tipping into recession. Russia looks set to cut off Europe's gas supplies, a geopolitical move that will send tremors around the world.

Not that the rand needed much of a push. At the moment, it really has hardly anything going for it.

For one thing, there is a growing consensus that South Africa's economy may be falling into recession itself right now, based on the data so far from the second quarter (Q2) and the rough start to the current quarter...