Bilateral relations and trade between the European Union and South Africa – Monetary currencies and exchange rates (Euro to Rand)

History of relations between South Africa and the European Union
Trade relations and development co-operation between South Africa and the European Union (EU) have been governed by the Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement (TDCA), which has established a free trade area that covers 90% of bilateral trade between the EU and South Africa since 2000. In June 2016, South Africa signed the EU – SADC EPA together with five other southern African countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and Swaziland), which would replace the TDCA. Euro to rand explained in more detail later.
Bilateral trade between the eurozone and South Africa
Under the SADC EPA, the EU has fully or partially removed customs duties on 98.7% of imports from South Africa while guaranteeing full free access to the rest of the signing countries but the African signatories will not be required to respond with the same level of market openness as the EU will provide. The EPA will contribute to improve the business climate between the partners by providing companies in the whole Southern African region with a stable and advanced framework. It should also boost bilateral and regional trade and provide new opportunities to fulfil the objectives of the SA-EU strategic partnership.
Quick Overview of Euro to Rand Live Exchange Rate
✔️What a Euro is, its history and where it is used
✔️Current denominations, abbreviations, valuations of the Euro
✔️Origin of the Euro symbol
Euro rates and currency converters
The South African Rand and where it is used
Origin of the word Rand
Denominations, abbreviations, valuations of the Rand
History of the South African Rand as currency
South African Rand rates and a currency converter
Brief exchange rate history of the Rand
Brief exchange rate history of the Euro to Rand
Frequently Asked Questions
The EU also represents the most significant source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into South Africa. EU-based companies invest in a wide range of economic activities in the country and have been contributing to South Africa’s industrialization and transformation programmes. The European Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Southern Africa, established in 2015, provides a clear approach on issues of concern to European businesses invested in the region.
What a Euro is, its history and where it is used
The euro is the form of money for the 19 member countries of the eurozone. It is the second most widely used currency in forex trading after the US dollar and the second most widely held foreign exchange reserve used by central banks.
History
The euro was first launched in 1999 as a currency for electronic payments through credit and debit cards, loans and for accounting purposes while old currencies were used for cash only. Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain adopted the euro right away. (Greece followed in 2001, Slovenia in 2007, Malta and Cyprus in 2008, Slovakia in 2009 and Latvia in 2014.)
Its second phase was launched in 2002 when euro coins and banknotes were introduced – each country with its own distinct form of the euro coin. As of the first quarter of 2019, foreign governments held $2.2 trillion compared to $6.7 trillion in US dollar reserves. Like the dollar, the euro is managed by one central bank, the European Central Bank, but each country sets its own fiscal policy that affects its value.
You might like: Live dollar to rand price
Advantages, disadvantages and positive results due to the introduction of the euro
Smaller countries benefited by adopting the euro for being backed by Europe’s powerhouse economies, Germany and France. They could enjoy lower interest rates because the euro wasn’t as risky to investors than a currency with less demand from users and traders. Larger companies in turn profited from investing cheaply in less-developed economies.
The reason some countries are reluctant to give up authority over their monetary and fiscal policies when they joined the eurozone was because adopting the euro meant they also lose the ability to print their currency – which allows them to control inflation by raising interest rates or limiting their money supply. They also must keep their annual budget deficits lower than 3% of their gross domestic product and their debt-to-GDP ratio be less than 60% and many haven’t been able to cut spending enough to meet this.
Capital may be transferred in any amount from one country to another within the EU and all intra-EU transfers in euro are treated as domestic transactions, bearing the corresponding domestic transfer costs. Credit or debit card charging and ATM withdrawals within the eurozone are also treated as domestic transactions.
Physical investment seems to have increased in the eurozone due to the introduction of the currency, probably because the reduction of the risk associated with changes in currency exchange rates.
The introduction of the euro well may have had a strong effect on European financial integration – on a global level it has led to an integration in terms of investment in bond portfolios, with eurozone countries lending and borrowing more between each other than with other countries.
Current denominations, abbreviations, valuations of the Euro
The euro symbol is € and its currency code EUR. Euros are divided into euro cents, each cent being one one-hundredth of a euro. There are seven denominations available: €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, and €500.
Bills and coins are all different sizes, with the bills having raised print and coins distinct edges to allow the visually impaired to distinguish denominations from each other. The name euro was officially adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid. It is also known as Ege (Finnish), Pavo (Spanish), and Euráče (Slovak).
Origin of the Euro symbol
The euro currency sign (€) was designed after a public survey had narrowed the original ten proposals down to two and the European Commission chose the symbol inspired by the Greek epsilon (Є), a reference to the cradle of European civilisation, and the first letter of the word Europe, crossed by two parallel lines to indicate the stability of the euro.
Euro rates and currency converters
When the euro launched in 2002, it was worth $0.87. As more people used it, its value grew through the years to reach a record high of US$1.60 on 22 April 2008 but by June 2010, it was back to US$1.20. By December 2016, it had fallen to $1.03 as traders worried about Brexit consequences, but rebounded after traders grew frustrated with the lack of progress.
You can do a live conversion of the euro to rand traded today. Convert within 10 seconds your euro to zar.
The South African Rand and where it is used
The rand is legal tender in the common monetary area between South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia, although the last three countries have their own currencies attached to the rand’s value. Before 1976 the rand was legal tender in Botswana too.
Origin of the word Rand
The South African rand got its name from the Witwatersrand (English “white waters’ ridge”), the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa’s gold deposits are mined.
Denominations, abbreviations, valuations of the Rand
When referring to the currency, the abbreviation is usually upper case “R”, but the name is written “rand” in lower case in both English and Afrikaans.
The rand is subdivided into 100 cents (sign: “c”) and its ISO 4217 code is ZAR, from Zuid-Afrikaanse rand (South African rand); the ZA being a historical relic from Dutch and not used in any current context except the country abbreviation.
History of the South African Rand as currency
As a trading centre, multiple currencies circulated throughout South Africa, with the first official currency used the Guilder. During the late 17th century, the Rixdollar was used, the first South African currency to include paper notes. Since 1826, from British occupation, the country used sterling, while other currencies like Spanish dollars, US dollars, French francs, and Indian rupees continued to circulate.
The Reserve Bank of South Africa was established as the central bank in 1921 and on 14 February 1961, three months before the Union of South Africa became a republic, the rand was introduced as its official currency. It replaced the South African pound as legal tender, at the rate of two rand to one pound, or 10 shillings to the rand.
Coins were introduced in 1961 in denominations of 1⁄2, 1, 21⁄2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents, the smaller ones later discontinued. The 2-rand coin was introduced in 1989, followed by 5-rand coins in 1994.
To curb counterfeiting, a new 5-rand coin with more security features was released in 2004. The first series of rand banknotes introduced in 1961 was in denominations of 1-, 2-, 10-, and 20-rand.
In 1966, a second series was released. All notes bore the image of Jan van Riebeeck. A 1978 series began with denominations of 2-, 5-, 10- and 20-rand, with a 50-rand introduced in 1984. The 1-rand note was replaced by a coin.
In the 1990s, the notes were redesigned with images of the Big Five wildlife species and coins were introduced for the 2- and 5-rand. In 1994, 100- and 200-rand notes were introduced. In 2012 a new set of banknotes bearing Nelson Mandela’s image was issued.
South African Rand rates and a currency converter
Most currency rankings show that the most popular South Africa Rand exchange rate is the EURO to ZAR rate.
Brief exchange rate history of the Rand
The rand has developed into a liquid emerging market currency, most commonly traded against the US dollar. Despite originally enjoying strong value in the ever-changing international economy, the system of Apartheid in South Africa ultimately caused the rand to lose footing on the global market.
From the time of its inception in 1961 until late in 1971 one rand was worth US$1.40. thereafter its value fluctuated as various exchange rate dispensations were implemented by the South African authorities. In 1974 the South African authorities delinked the rand from the dollar and introduced a policy of independent managed floating. At the time it was trading at 87 cents to the dollar.
Several factors however affected the exchange rate. By the early 1980s, high inflation and mounting political pressure and sanctions due to international opposition to the apartheid system, had started to erode its value. By 1985 it had weakened to R 2.40 per dollar, recovered somewhat between 1986–88, but by the end of 1989, was trading at more than R 2.50 per dollar.
By the 1994 general election it had weakened to over R 3.60 to the dollar and by 1999 to over R 6 to the dollar. The rand/dollar exchange in the post-apartheid South Africa had been largely impacted by national and international social, political and economic events.
The controversial land reform programme of Zimbabwe, followed by the September 11, 2001 attacks, sent it to R 13.84 to the dollar in December 2001.
This sudden depreciation led to a formal investigation, in turn leading to a dramatic recovery but in 2006 resumed its downward slide. In January 2014, the rand slid to R11.25 to the dollar and over a four-day period in December 2015, it dropped over 10% due to a surprise replacement of then Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene with the little-known David van Rooyen. This further damaged international confidence in the rand, causing an all-time low of R 17.9169 to the US dollar on 9 January 2016.
In 1983, the apartheid government abolished the financial rand exchange rate system and key international banks refused to renew credit lines for South Africa, which forced the temporary closure of the foreign-exchange market in the country.
View the life: euro to rand exchange rate
Brief exchange rate history of the Euro to Rand
On 28 January 2025 one euro traded to an exchange rate of 16.16 South African rand.
One South African rand traded to an exchange rate of 0.062 euro.
A 180 days of South African rand to euro historical data from Thursday 1 August 2019 to Sunday 26 January 2025 shows the highest exchange rate of 0.063798 EUR to one ZAR on 27 December 2019, a lowest exchange rate of 0.058119 EUR to one ZAR on 10 Aug 2019 and an average exchange rate of 0.061181 EUR to one ZAR over this period.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the euro to the rand?
Please click on the link to view the live realtime rate of Euro to Rand.
What is the euro?
The Euro is the official currency of the European Union.
What is the Euro Official Currency Symbol?
€
Can I convert euros to rand on SAShares?
Yes, you can. We have a realtime conversion calculator.
Can I trade currencies in SA Shares?
Yes, you can open a FREE Trading account.