After a period of relative stability in 1999 and 2000, a sharp depreciation in the exchange rate of the rand occurred during the second half of 2001. During that period the nominal effective exchange rate of rand depreciated by 34 per cent, before recovering early in 2002.
Subsequently the rand has been remarkably steady, and for the eight months January to August 2003 the average exchange rate of the rand amounts to R7,90 per US dollar. BIS Review 43/2003  3  The elimination of the oversold NOFP was the Bank’s third major policy challenge over the past five years.