Belarusian ruble devaluation to cause price hike

Prices of imported goods will grow 25%.

The forecast was made by research officer at the Belarusian Economic Research and Outreach Center (BEROC) Dzmitry Kruk, BelaPAN reports.

He says prices of imported goods can grow 25-26% after a 30% devaluation of the Belarusian ruble. The economist thinks that a 15% increase in all consumer goods can be expected due to the “real financial dollarisation”.

“Without dollarisation, a devaluation leads to a price hike only in prices of imported goods. But prices of many domestic goods without imported components or with a small part of imported components are formed on the dollar basis. Demand for them orients to prices in dollars. It makes prices of domestic goods grow proportionally to the price increase in imported goods,” Kruk notes.

The duty on purchasing foreign currency by individuals is cancelled on January 9 following the decision of the National Bank. The government scrapped the 30% duty on the purchase of foreign currency by companies on January 8.

The dollar rate grew to 13.760 rubles on the Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange on January 8. The official exchange rate has increased 26% since December 19, when the duty on buying foreign currency was imposed.