Value of 1997 South African Rand today

All calculations are performed in South African rand with six-decimal precision, though displayed values are rounded to two decimals for readability. Inflation figures are sourced from official government and international reports released monthly. To convert historical amounts into today's rand, we use the most recent CPI data available and extrapolate it to estimate the CPI for today.

How to calculate today's value of money after inflation?

There are several ways to calculate the time value of money. Depending on the data available, results can be obtained by using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) formula or the compound interest formula.

Using the CPI formula

When we have both the start and end years, we can use the following formula:

To obtain the values equivalent in buying power between 1997 and 2024, use the corresponding CPI values:

To obtain the equivalent value today (present value), plug in the CPI for today, which is estimated as 161.79:

Alternative: Using the compound interest formula

Given that money changes with time as a result of an inflation rate that acts as compound interest, we can use the following formula: FV = PV × (1 + i)ⁿ, where:

• FV: Future Value
• PV: Present Value
• i: Interest rate (inflation)
• n: Number of times the interest is compounded (i.e. # of years)

In this case, the future value represents the final amount obtained after applying the inflation rate to our initial value. In other words, it indicates how much are R100 worth today. There are 27 years between 1997 and 2024 and the average inflation rate was 5.2831%. Therefore, we can resolve the formula like this:

South Africa inflation - Conversion table