BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

15/08/2007

Belarus ceases using Russian rouble

Belarus will unhook its currency from the Russian rouble to tie it to the US dollar in order to stabilize the Belarusian currency.

The former Soviet republic will change the Russian currency as its index currency for its own Belarusian rouble from 2008.

Indexing the Belarusian rouble to the US dollar will help stabilizing the Belarusian currency, and help Belarus to increase its international trade, Belarusian National Bank (BNB) planning paper predicted.

The BNB at the same time will cease maintaining meaningful reserves of Russian roubles, a calculated move by the Kremlin, which for years pushed the Russian rouble as a common currency for trade between former Soviet republics.

The Belarusian decision to reject the Russian rouble is an evidence of deteriorating relations between the Kremlin and Minsk, who have had disagreements over energy prices since December.

Source:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=19570§ionid=351020602

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