The Belarusian Ruble Depreciated by 35% in Two Months

It's time to get rid of it.

The Belarusian ruble has depreciated by about 35% in the first two months of 2022. We express our sincere condolences to those who keep their money in Belarusian rubles. Prepare for a strong rise in price for everything, writes infobank.by.

The Board of the National Bank of Belarus decided to increase the refinancing rate up to 12% per annum from March 1, 2022, while the rate on overnight loans - up to 13% per annum and the rate on overnight deposits - up to 11% per annum.

The adopted decision is aimed at maintaining financial stability and limiting inflation, the risks of acceleration of which have increased against the background of a sharp aggravation of the geopolitical situation and sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation, a major economic partner of the Republic of Belarus, by a number of Western countries.

In the future, the National Bank will continue to take necessary measures to ensure financial and price stability given the development of the foreign policy situation, based on the continuous monitoring of emerging trends in the foreign exchange and deposit markets and assessment of inflation risks.

Belarus has devalued its currency more than any other of the former Soviet republics in 30 years. As well as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The population of the Baltic States - Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania - had the least devaluation losses.

It is interesting that by the time the hryvnia was introduced in Ukraine in 1996, the dollar in Belarus had grown the same way as in Ukraine - to 176,000 (if you consider the 10:1 ratio when the first payment tickets of the National Bank of Belarus were introduced). For the next 25 years, the power in Belarus did not change, while in Ukraine - several times, plus the armed conflict and annexation of territories.

And over these 25 years, from 1996 to 2020, the dollar in Belarus increased 1466 times, while in Ukraine - 16 times. For comparison, in Russia during the same period - 14 times, in Moldova - 3.7 times, in Georgia - 2.6 times.