In the four years from 1985, the current account recorded an average surplus of 3.75% of GDP. 15  6  investment profile and reduce government’s demands for savings, thereby permitting lower interest rates to allow more private sector investment. In hindsight, I would say the strategy was mostly successful. We experienced some of the downsides of openness to capital flows.
These included a huge depreciation of the rand in 2001, which only loosely reflected fundamentals, as well as a phase of currency strength during the mid-2000s, which may have affected export competitiveness. The stronger currency and low interest rates also fed dramatic house price appreciation and risky mortgage growth ‒ a dynamic arrested by the 2008 crisis.