Belarusians Rushed To Buy Foreign Currency

In light of the coming devaluation the population is getting rid of Belarusian rubles.

The situation on the global financial market is becoming more alarming, which cannot but affect the mood of the Belarusians.

Besides that there are enough domestic reasons for concern: it is just suffice to mention the reform of the deposit market, as a result of which Belarusians have lost the ability to keep money in banks on friendly terms. So it’s not a surprise that many citizens are getting more and more concerned about protecting their savings and buy the asset that has proved its reliability over decades – US dollars, belrynok.by writes.

As a result, the demand for foreign currency has increased by $ 39 mln and reached $ 551.2 mln in December compared to November 2015. The demand was higher only in August 2015, when it reached $ 698.5 mln. While the volume of sales of cash currency to the individuals also rose in December, but less than the demand, by only $ 27.5 mln and reached $ 543.2 mln.

Thus, the demand for foreign cash exceeded the supply by $ 8 mln in December. This is a small amount, but it is symbolic since the excess has occurred, apart from December, only in August last year. All other months the residents of Belarus were selling more foreign currency in cash than buying.

The amount of non-cash foreign currency purchased by population rose by $ 24.2 mln in December compared to November. It reached $ 170.3 mln. That was also the second largest amount reported last year since August. The volume of non-cash foreign currency sold by the population rose by $ 8 mln in December compared to November. It reached $ 66.6 mln. As a result, the demand of physical entities for non-cash foreign currency exceeded the supply by $ 103.7 mln.

In total, in December the population of Belarus bought the cash and non-cash currency at 111.7 mln USD dollars more than it sold. Three month running, individuals have been buying more currency than selling. That is, we can say it’s a tendency.