South African Rand Currency | ZAR | South Africa

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South African Rand Currency:

Rand is the official currency of South Africa. It is also legally valid for making payments in the Common Monetary Area between South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia despite the co-existence of their own currencies in Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia. Zimbabwe is the unofficial user of South African Rand.

The word “Rand” literally means elongated and elevated rocky crest. The largest city in South Africa Johannesburg was built on the craggy mountainous ridge called Witwatersrand, implying “White waters’ Ridge” which was the national proud source of gold deposits. The official currency was endearingly named “Rand” holding out as the prestigious symbol with indirect reference to its native gold ores. The South African Rand is further subdivided into 100 equal parts called cents. The cents are denoted by the symbol c and the rand is by the symbol R.

The coins are of the denominations 10c, 20c, 50c, R1, R2 and R5. The gold coins of different weights of 33.93 gms, 16.96gms, 8.42 gms and 3.39 gms are also issued with the name Krugerrands. The paper currency notes are issued in denominations R10, R20, R50, R100 and R200.