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Also, in many African currencies there have been episodes of rampant inflation, resulting in the need for currency revaluation (e.g. the Zimbabwe dollar). In some places there is a thriving street trade by unlicensed street traders in US dollars or other stable currencies, which are seen as a hedge against local inflation. The exchange rate is ...
The pound (Afrikaans: pond; symbol £, £SA [1] for distinction) was the currency of the Union of South Africa from the formation of the country as a British Dominion in 1910. It was replaced by the rand in 1961 when South Africa decimalised. In 1825, an imperial order-in-council made sterling coinage legal tender in all the British colonies.
It replaced the South African pound as legal tender, at the rate of 2 rand to 1 pound, or 10 shillings to the rand. The government introduced a mascot, Decimal Dan, "the rand-cent man" (known in Afrikaans as Daan Desimaal). [4] This was accompanied by a radio jingle to inform the public about the new currency. [5]
The English word "pound" derives from the Latin expression lībra pondō, in which lībra is a noun meaning 'pound' and pondō is an adverb meaning 'by weight'. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The currency's symbol is ' £ ' , a stylised form of the blackletter 'L' ( L {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {L}}} ) (from libra ), crossed to indicate abbreviation.
Sterling (ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. [3] The pound is the main unit of sterling, [4] [c] and the word pound is also used to refer to the British currency generally, [7] often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling. [4]
In 1923, South Africa began to issue its own coins, adopting coins that were identical in size and value to those used in Great Britain: 12 pence (12d) = 1 shilling (1s), and 20s = 1 pound (£1). On 14 February 1961, the Union of South Africa adopted a decimal currency, replacing the pound with the Rand.
Slang terms for money often derive from the appearance and features of banknotes or coins, their values, historical associations or the units of currency concerned. Within a language community, some of the slang terms vary in social, ethnic, economic, and geographic strata but others have become the dominant way of referring to the currency and are regarded as mainstream, acceptable language ...
This rate was equivalent to ₵1 = 0.98 U.S. dollars and the rate to the dollar was maintained when sterling was devalued in November 1967. Further pegs were set of $0.55 in 1971, $0.78 in 1972, and $0.8696 in 1973 before the currency was floated in 1978.