What Could Be Bought For One Million Belarusian Rubles 10 Years Ago And What 100 Rubles Are Worth Now?

Belarusians are becoming aware of the record inflation by their refrigerators.

Belarusians have long ceased to be millionaires, but they still have the memory of price tags with three or five zeros on goods in shops. Intex-press.by decided to refresh memory about the prices of food and non-food products in Baranavichy shops ten years ago and to calculate how the purchasing power of the Belarusian money had changed over this time.

In 2012, one million rubles was a lot of money. In fact, half the then average salary (in November 2011, for example, the average salary in our city was Br2.2 million).

Accordingly, it was possible to buy a lot of things for a million. For example, in January 2012, one could buy a kitchen combine of a well-known brand and a budget hoover for this money. Or, for example, a jigsaw of a popular foreign company and a hoover.

Let alone the foodstuffs. One could buy almost 700 kg of potatoes for one million, or almost 170 litres of milk, or 70 kg of bananas.

In foreign currency terms, one million Belarusian roubles was equivalent to about 120 US dollars in January 2012.

On 1 July 2016, as everyone well remembers, Belarusians stopped being millionaires, and as a result of the denomination, one million turned into 100 rubles.

What can be bought today with that amount?

In terms of dollars, 100 Belarusian roubles lose out to the million ten years ago: today it is approximately USD 40, i.e. three times less.

Now let's move on to purchases. Surprisingly, ten years later journalists managed to find the same model of the kitchen combine and the same jigsaw sold at the same shop in Baranavichy ten years ago. Do you know how many jigsaws and combines we can buy for 100 roubles today? Not a one! Because these machines cost the same money in dollars as they did ten years ago. As opposed to Belarusian money.

The purchasing power of 100 Belarusian roubles with reference to food has dropped considerably. Take potatoes, for instance. The price of the vegetable, beloved by all Belarusians, has increased 10 times in Belarusian rubles for 10 years! Hence, we can buy not hundreds of kilos of potatoes for 100 roubles today, but dozens of them.

A litre of milk has gone up in price approximately three times, so it fits into the 100 rubles less - about 53 litres instead of 169.

The price of some goods in Baranavichy shops in January 2012 and January 2022, and the amount one could buy for Br1 million and Br100, respectively