Last week the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) released a draft for the 2008 monetary policy guidelines. According to the document, Belarus would abandon pegging the Belarussian ruble to the Russian ruble in 2008. Economy experts believe the move is rather political than economic in nature. Minsk has sent a clear signal to Moscow that the latter could kiss goodbye to currency integration. Renewed tension between Russia and Belarus caused by another pricing dispute over Russia’s gas supplies to Belarus is the backdrop of the latest developments.
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The National Bank of Belarus will abandon pegging the Belarussian ruble to the Russian ruble in 2008, reports Kommersant. The switch is stipulated in a draft for the 2008 monetary policy guidelines, published on Sunday. The NBB said it wanted to maintain the stable the Belarussian ruble’s stable exchange rate against the U.S. dollar as the sole monetary policy benchmark in 2008, the way it was before 2005. The Belarussian ruble has gained or lost not more than 4 percent of its value against the Russian ruble and not more than 2.5 percent against the U.S. dollar. As for the year 2008, the NBB predicts that the national currency would gain or lose not more than 2.5 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar.
The switch would be provided for by the 2008 monetary policy guidelines, which are currently under consideration, said Mikhail Zhuravovich, a spokesman for the NBB. However, it is quite symbolic that the Belarussian government went public with the plan as the relations between Russia and Belarus were about to hit rock bottom. Apparently, the move was intended to make clear Minsk’s utter disappointment about the Kremlin’s stance on the issue of gas supplies.
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