Central Bank reports on citizens' demand for euros

The total turnover of operations of private persons involving their foreigncurrency accounts, grew by $600m, or 17 percent, in June 2002 as comparedto May 2002. Operations at exchange offices gained $300m, or 24 percent.The operations of citizens at exchange offices grew both in number andvolume, a release of the Central Bank of Russia says.The net demand of citizens for foreign currency went up by 58 percent to$900m in June 2002, which was attributed to the beginning of the vacationseason, the release points out. The net demand of citizens for euro in cashamounted to EUR300m growing by 96 percent against May 2002. The totaldemand of private individuals for foreign currency in cash reached $3.2bngaining 24 percent as compared to May 2002. At the same time, the totalsupply of foreign currency in cash to private individuals surged by 14percent to $2.3bn in June 2002 against the previous month.To satisfy the citizen's demand and to support the necessary level offoreign currency in cash, authorized banks imported $1.1bn in June 2002,which was $400m more than in May 2002. The share of the euro in theseimports advanced by 29 percent. The total amount of foreign currencyreached $6.1bn as of June 1, 2002, gaining 24 percent as compared to May2002. The share of euro in the total market volume went up to 15 percent,while in June 2001, the share of currencies of the EU countries was 6percent..

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