South Africa would like to see better global coordination to tackle volatility in emerging markets caused by an expected scaling back of US monetary stimulus, the Presidency said yesterday.
"Decisions taken by countries based solely on their own national interest can have serious implications for other nations. There must be a greater recognition that we live in an interconnected world," the Presidency said.
President Jacob Zuma will attend the G20 summit in Russia this week.
The rand has lost 21% to the dollar since the start of the year and fell to a four-year low of R10.51/dollar last week, battered also by fears over domestic labour unrest, including a planned gold industry strike from today.
Huge deficits in the current account and budget have made the economy more vulnerable than some others in the emerging market rout.
"The solution to all these challenges - turbulence in financial markets, the fragile and uneven economic recovery - lies in better global coordination of efforts," the Presidency said.
South Africa, the smallest member of the Brics group of emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India and China, said it supported a call by developing countries for "more carefully considered global collective action".
India said on Friday it was seeking support from other emerging economies for coordinated intervention in offshore foreign exchange. India's currency has shed about a fifth of its value against the dollar in three months. Brazil rejected outright involvement in any intervention.
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