JOHANNESBURG, August 4(Reuters) -The South African rand was softer in early trade on Monday ahead of a briefing by the country’s ministers of trade and foreign affairs where they will provide updates on progress made in negotiating a trade pact with the United States.
At 0633 GMT the rand traded at 18.0525 against the U.S. dollar, about 0.2% weaker than Friday’s close.
South African goods will be subjected to a 30% duty when imported in the U.S., the highest rate among Sub-Saharan African countries. Pretoria has been trying to get Washington to reduce the rate, saying it could harm tens of thousands of jobs.
Trade minister Parks Tau and foreign minister Ronald Lamola are set to update the nation on the issue later on Monday.
“Our foremost priority is protecting our export industries. We will continue to engage the U.S. in an attempt to preserve market access for our products,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a newsletter on Monday.
South Africa should accelerate the diversification of export markets by deepening intra-African trade, he said.
“We will in due course be announcing the modalities of a support package for companies, producers and workers that have been rendered vulnerable by the U.S. tariffs,” Ramaphosa said.
The dollar index, which tracks the currency against a basket of major peers, was slightly stronger in Monday trade. It fell more than 1% on Friday following weak U.S. jobs data that sent traders scrambling to price in aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was marginally stronger in early deals, as the yield rose one basis point to 9.615%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
