During the first week of last week, the rand remained sluggish. On Tuesday, the South African rand began at R20.59 versus the British pound and closed at R20.64. The GBP/ZAR pair had broken past the R20.87 mark by Thursday and was trading at R20.99 on Friday. The rand was at its lowest level since January 2022. Last week, most big economies central banks maintained their hawkish language. The Bank of England (BoE), for example, raised interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday. The Bank of England has been talking about inflation, which has risen sharply in recent months. This year, its mai…