The lilangeni is maintained at par with the South Africa rand, as it is in the de facto rand area involving Swaziland, South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. The rand was on par with the U.S. dollar in the early 1980s, but has since lost value, very rapidly at times in the latter 1990s. In mid-2001, the lilangeni stood at E8.27:US$1. In March 1995, a 2-tier financial system (which allowed a different exchange rate for certain transactions) was
Trade (expressed in billions of US$): Swaziland | ||
Exports | Imports | |
1975 | .199 | .180 |
1980 | .369 | .623 |
1985 | .180 | .324 |
1990 | .557 | .663 |
1995 | .957 | 1.105 |
1998 | N/A | N/A |
SOURCE: International Monetary Fund. International Financial Statistics Yearbook 1999. |
Exchange rates: Swaziland | |
emalangeni (E) per US$1 | |
Jan 2001 | 7.7803 |
2000 | 6.9056 |
1999 | 6.1087 |
1998 | 5.4807 |
1997 | 4.6032 |
1996 | 4.2706 |
Note: The Swazi lilangeni is at par with the South African rand; emalangeniis the plural form of lilangeni. | |
SOURCE: CIA World Factbook 2001 [ONLINE]. |
ended with the abolition of the financial rand, making the currency more vulnerable to international reaction to political developments in South Africa.
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