Belarus is continuously suffering from the foreign currencies shortage. The government is preparing a law imposing stricter control over the retail currency market.
Belarusians who wants to buy dollars or euros have to wait in long lines. As soon as the currencies appear in exchange offices, they are immediately sold. Radio Svoboda interviewed a number of people waiting in lines. – Situation has not changed much. There is more than 300 people on a queue list and standing here. It’s even harder to buy currency now. There is less money supplied to exchange offices. I’ve been waiting now for three months to buy the needed amount. – said an owner of a small business, who waited in front of an entrance of an exchange office in Minsk, in an interview with Radio Svoboda.
In a different exchange office, there was 900 people waiting in a line. „If someone signs up now, they will be able to buy currency in 450 days. Everything is written down on a list. The maximum amount you can exchange at once is a thousand dollars.“ – said a man who stood in front of the exchange office.
Mikhail Miasnikovich, the Belarusian prime minister, informed that the government and the Belarusian National Bank are working on a law imposing much stricter control over the retail currency market. But no other details have been revealed.
According to experts, the government can try to restore a system from the 1990s, when currency was sold only after the buyer presented their ID and the amount of the currency that could be bought within one day was very limited.
Belsat
