Australian Dollar to South African Rand exchange rates aren't all the same.
The total cost you are charged by your bank or foreign exchange provider consists of a margin from the interbank mid-rate plus fees.
These margins and fees vary significantly for International Money Transfers and Travel Money transactions as shown below.
This resource page for the Australian Dollar to South African Rand exchange rate, has news,
forecasts and
AUD to ZAR comparison tables for
foreign transfers and
travel money
rates and fees on offer by banks and foreign exchange providers. You can also check an exchange rate margin with
our Exchange Rate Checker.
AUD/ZAR Exchange Rates - How to Compare & Save
Exchange rates can vary significantly depending on the transaction type (transfer, cash or card), currency pair and amount. The below table shows an example of total costs charged by FX specialists and banks for AUD/ZAR International Money Transfers. Costs are calculated against the current interbank mid-rate.
Example of the margins and possible savings when you order travel money online with a currency specialist rather than in-person from banks and currency kiosks.
When determining the best time to make a foreign exchange transaction, in this case the AUD vs ZAR, you should pay attention to the recent market trends for both currencies.
Australian Dollar (AUD)
In early August the Australian dollar sunk to a 10 year low of 67¢ (Aug-7) to the US dollar. This was due to the offshore yuan breaking the symbolic and closely watched USD/CNY = 7.0 exchange rate, after the trade war flared up again and the US labelled China a "currency manipulator".
Investors have sold AUD in recent months as they’ve bet on aggressive interest-rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia. These bets paid off: the RBA cut its cash rate in both June and July to a record low of 1 percent.
Lower borrowing costs are necessary, investors believe, in light of persistently soft domestic data and the fallout from a US-China trade standoff that shows no sign of nearing an end.
AUD will continue to track changes in interest-rate expectations. Economists expect at least one further cut this year and many expect two by early 2020. After July's cut, the RBA hinted it would leave rates unchanged for several months.
Interestingly, AUD has decoupled from commodity prices in 2019. The price of iron ore (Australia’s largest export) nears multi-year highs while AUD languishes.
Further RBA interest rate cuts this year are now a certainty, and that doesn’t bode well for currency valuations. Westpac has predicted three cuts this year.
2018 was a grim year for the rand: it lost 14 percent of its value against the US dollar and lost 10 percent against the euro.
Stability returned in the first 5 months of 2019, with no change against the dollar and a 2 percent gain versus the euro.
Talk in May was all about the election, which was again won by the ANC party, led by Cyril Ramaphosa. This spurred a relief rally in the rand, but a serious fall in support for the ANC since 2014 suggests Ramaphosa will struggle implementing much-needed economic reforms.
With the election out of the way, analysts at Deutsche Bank are expecting the rand to weaken throughout the rest of the year.
"We think [rand] optimism will prove short-lived as the market quickly refocuses on deteriorating fundamentals," Deutsche said.
Why can't I just get the AUD/ZAR market rate I see online or in the media?
The mid-rate is the rate you will see quoted online or the news. It is actually just the half-way point (hence mid-rate) between
the last rate at which the AUD / ZAR was traded (bought or sold) in the international markets.
All foreign exchange providers charge a fee for providing their service and this fee is usually contained within the exchange rate margin (or difference to the mid-rate).
Some providers such as Transferwise will quote you the mid-rate (or close to) and charge a separate percentage fee.
Getting a good market rate is mainly about timing however the transaction margin
you end up being charged can be considerably reduced by around a few percent (of total amount being exchanged) for
travel money and possibly over 5% to 6% when sending money.
The exact potential savings depends on the currencies being exchanged and the amount you are transferring and if you are willing to shop around.
