The exchange rate of the national currency of cash-strapped Belarus has plunged by 30 percent after the government completed its devaluation.
Belarus last month allowed banks to buy and sell the ruble at a rate determined in open trading. The country’s National Bank said Wednesday it is now lifting curbs on currency sales on the street.
Banks responded by raising the U.S. dollar exchange rate for retail transactions by 30 percent.
Belarus is facing a severe downturn with hard currency reserves plunging 20 percent in the first two months of the year, and staples such as vegetable oil and sugar vanishing from stores.
Thousands of people have been lining up to banks, hoping to buy foreign currency. Wednesday’s move, however, did not make these lines disappear as the banks still don’t get currency from state coffers while population is still unwilling to sell.
