NBRB: No dramatic change in Belarusian ruble exchange rate in 2013

       There are no reasons to expect a drastic change in the exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble in 2013, Chairperson of the Board of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB) Nadezhda Yermakova said.
       According to her, the stability of the currency market and the exchange rate is underpinned by the external and internal balance of the economy. Both the government and the National Bank work to maintain this balance. Nadezhda Yermakova added that in 2013 the National Bank will keep gradually reducing its presence on the currency market. 
      The NBRB chief pointed to generally positive trends on the domestic currency market. Over the eleven months this year economic operators sold $1.5 billion more foreign currency than they bought.
In her words, households buy more foreign currency than they sell, although in recent months the net purchase of foreign currency has been decreasing. In November the demand for foreign currency dropped by more than 20% compared to October. This is in many ways attributed to the tough position of the National Bank on the refinancing of banks, which allowed increasing profitability of deposits in the national currency and discouraging people from opening deposits in foreign currency, the NBRB chief explained.