BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

01/02/2009

Dollar grows over 25% to Belarusian ruble since year beginning

MINSK, February 1 (Itar-Tass) -- The official exchange rate of the dollar to the Belarusian ruble has grown by 25.1%, from 2,200 to 2,752 Belarusian rubles to the U.S. currency unit, since the beginning of this year. The Belarusian currency weakening is record amongst former Soviet republics, experts said.

The Belarusian ruble dipped 20% to the dollar on January 2, and the devaluation continued. The National Bank recommended selling and buying dollars at the rates differing from the official one by no more than 2%, and some commercial banks offered their clients to buy dollars for 2,800 Belarusian rubles.

The devaluation was necessary to alleviate effects of the financial crisis, National Bank Chairman Pyotr Prokopovich said on Thursday. In his words, currencies of Belarus' leading trade partners have also devaluated by demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Hopefully, there will be no more sharp drops of the Belarusian ruble this year, Prokopovich said. He noted that the National Bank would keep to the announced exchange corridor (plus/minus 5%) of the currency basket of dollars, euros and Russian rubles.

Despite the growing dollar, the demand for hard currency remains high at the currency exchange. At the same time, the agitation of the first days after the Belarusian ruble's devaluation is gone.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=13536179&PageNum=0

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