Belarusian ruble
The Belarusian ruble or rouble is the official currency of Belarus. The ruble is subdivided into 100 copecks.
History
First ruble, 1992–2000
As a result of the breakup of the supply chain in the former Soviet enterprises, goods started to be bought and sold in the market, often requiring cash settlement. The Belarusian unit of the USSR State Bank had neither the capacity nor the licence to print Soviet banknotes, so the government decided to introduce its own national currency to ease the cash situation. The German word Thaler, divided into 100 Groschen was suggested as the name for a Belarusian currency; but the Communist majority in the Supreme Soviet of Belarus rejected the proposal and stuck to the word ruble that was usual for Belarus from the times of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire. In the medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania of which Belarus was a major part, the word ruble has also been used as a name for a currency in circulation.From the collapse of the Soviet Union until May 1992, the Soviet ruble circulated in Belarus alongside the Belarusian ruble. New Russian banknotes also circulated in Belarus, but they were replaced by notes issued by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus in May 1992. The first post-Soviet Belarusian ruble was assigned the ISO code BYB and replaced the Soviet currency at the rate of 1 Belarusian ruble = 10 Soviet rubles. It took about two years before the ruble became the official currency of the country.
Second ruble, 2000–2016
In 2000, a new ruble was introduced, replacing the first at a rate of 1 BYR = 1,000 BYB. This was redenomination with three zeros removed. Only banknotes have been issued, with the only coins issued being commemoratives for collectors.Monetary integration with Russia
From the beginning of his presidency in 1994, Alyaksandr Lukashenka began to suggest the idea of integration with the Russian Federation and to undertake steps in this direction. From the beginning, there was also an idea of introducing a united currency for the Union of Russia and Belarus. Art. 13 of the 1999 "Treaty of Creation of the Union State of Russia and Belarus" foresaw a unified currency. Discussions about the Union currency has continued past the 2005 implementation goal set by both nations. Starting in 2008, the Central Bank of the Republic of Belarus announced that the ruble would be tied to the United States dollar instead of to the Russian ruble. "Stanislav Bogdankevich, a former bank chairman, called the decision political, saying it was tied to Belarus' open displeasure at Russia's decision to hike oil and gas export prices to Belarus earlier this year. Belarus' economy is largely Soviet-style, centrally controlled and has been heavily reliant on cheap energy supplies from Russia".Third ruble, 2016–present
In July 2016, a new ruble was introduced, at a rate of 1 BYN = 10,000 BYR. Old and new rubles circulated in parallel from July 1 to December 31, 2016. Belarus also issued coins for general circulation for the first time. Seven denominations of banknotes and eight denominations of coins are in circulation on July 1, 2016. The banknotes have security threads and show 2009 as an issue date. Their designs are similar to those of the euro.Coins
First series, 2016
In 2016, for the first time in the whole history of the Belarusian ruble, coins were introduced due to the redenomination. Previously, Belarus was one of the few countries in the world never to have issued coins; this is largely due to the rampant inflation which has been a problem since independence.Slovakia has offered to mint the coins, and has provided prototypes. The coins of up to 5 copecks are struck in copper-plated steel; the 10, 20, 50 copecks coins are struck in brass-plated steel; the 1 ruble coin in a nickel-plated steel composition and 2 rubles coin in a bi-metallic format. All coins show the National emblem of Belarus, the inscription 'БЕЛАРУСЬ' and the year of minting on their obverse. The reverse shows the value of the coin accompanied by different ornaments with their own meanings.
Commemorative issues
Belarus is a large producer of commemorative coinage for the numismatic market, most particularly gold and silver bullion coins and non-circulating legal tender. With The first coins of the Republic of Belarus were issued on December 27, 1996. Their designs range from fairly commonplace to unique and innovative; themes range widely from "native culture and events" to fairy tales and pop culture topics not related to Belarus at all. A majority of these coins have a face value of 1 ruble, there are also a few denominated as 3, 5 rubles and higher amounts. All these coins are considered novelties and are unlikely to be seen in general circulation.Banknotes
First ruble
In 1992, banknotes were introduced in denominations of 50 copecks, 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 rubles. These were followed by 20,000 rubles in 1994, 50,000 rubles in 1995, 100,000 rubles in 1996, 500,000 rubles in 1998 and 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 rubles in 1999.Second ruble
In 2000, notes were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 rubles. In 2001, higher denominations of 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 rubles were introduced, followed by 100,000 rubles in 2005 and 200,000 rubles in 2012. There were no coins or banknotes issued in copecks."On 1 September 2010, new rules of Belarusian orthography came into force. According to the old rules, the correct spelling of the word “fifty” in Belarusian was “пяцьдзесят,” but under the new rules, it should be spelled “пяцьдзясят,” the difference being that the seventh character was the Cyrillic letter YE but is now the Cyrillic letter YA. As a result of these new rules, the existing 50- and 50,000-ruble notes dated 2000 now technically contain errors where the denominations are spelled out on the notes. On 29 December 2010, the National Bank of Belarus introduced new 50- and 50,000-ruble banknotes to bring the inscriptions on the notes into compliance with the new rules of Belarusian spelling and punctuation. The images, colors, and sizes of the notes remain consistent with the preceding issues of the same denominations dated 2000. The modified 50-ruble notes also no longer has a security thread, and the modified 50,000-ruble notes have replaced the solid security thread for a 2-mm wide windowed security thread."
Third ruble
In 2016, banknotes were introduced in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 rubles. On 4 November 2015 the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus announced that the banknotes that had been in use at that time would be replaced by the new ones due to the upcoming redenomination. The redenomination would be made in a ratio of 1:10,000. This currency reform also brought the introduction of coins, for the first time in The Republic of Belarus.The banknotes are printed by the United Kingdom-based banknote manufacturer, security printing, paper-making and cash handling systems company De La Rue. As for coins, they have been minted by both the Lithuanian Mint and the Kremnica Mint. Both banknotes and coins have been ready in 2009, but the financial crisis prevented them from being put into circulation immediately, resulting in a 7-year delay conditional on the necessity to lower inflation. Their designs are very similar to the Euro banknotes.
Exchange rates
On January 2, 2009, the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus lowered the exchange rate of the ruble by 50%.On May 24, 2011, the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus lowered the exchange rate of the ruble by 56%. Alexei Moiseev, chief economist at Russia's VTB Capital, said at the time that "a '91-style meltdown is almost inevitable," referring to the crisis which accompanied the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
On October 20, 2011 the exchange rate of the Belarus ruble dropped 42% when it was fully floated following demands to do so by Russia and the IMF.
In January 2015, the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus devalued its currency by 23% against the United States dollar despite efforts to keep Russia's ruble crisis from spreading across the border. As of Sunday, February 1, one U.S. dollar was worth 15,400 Belarusian rubles; by Tuesday it fell to 15,450 rubles to the dollar, as per data from the Belarusian Central Bank's website.