Cape Town – The rand was knocked on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported that the African National Congress (ANC) has proposed that the South African Reserve Bank should be wholly state-owned, according to three people familiar with the situation.

The rand fell by about 1.5% to R13.45 against the dollar at 12:55, but pulled back to R13.38/$ by 13:10.

“News from the ANC national policy conference is that the ANC is purposing that the SARB is to become state owned,” TreasuryOne told investors in a message on Wednesday. “This has not been taken well by the rand and has shot up to 13.4500,” it said. “(The) rand has pulled back slightly and is currently at 13.3800.”