Belarusian ruble

Belarusian ruble

беларускі рубель Template:Be icon белорусский рубль Template:Ru icon
National Bank of Belarus, 1992 50 kapeykas reverse 500 rubles (2000)
ISO 4217
Code	BYR
Unit
Plural	The language(s) of this currency belong(s) to the Slavic languages. There is more than one way to construct plural forms.
Symbol	‎
Denominations
Subunit
1/100	kapeyka
Banknotes
Freq. used	100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, 100,000 rubles
Rarely used	10, 20, 50, 200,000 rubles
Coins
Freq. used	none (coins are only issued for commemorative purposes).
Rarely used	1, 5, 10, 20, 50 rubles
Demographics
User(s)	Belarus
Issuance
Central bank	National Bank of the Republic of Belarus
Website	www.nbrb.by
Valuation
Inflation	108.7%
Source	National Statistical Committee, 2011

The ruble (Belarusian: рубель, Gen. plural: рублёў) is the currency of Belarus. The symbol for the ruble is Br and the ISO 4217 code is BYR.

History

First ruble, 1992–2000

The breakup of supply chain in the former Soviet enterprises demanded that goods be bought and sold on the market, often requiring cash settlement. The Belarusian unit of the USSR State Bank did not have capacity nor the license to print Soviet banknotes, hence the government decided to introduce their own national currency to ease up the situation with cash. Taler (Belarusian: талер), divided in 100 hrosh (Belarusian: грош) was suggested as the name for a Belarusian currency, however the Communist majority in the Supreme Soviet of Belarus rejected the proposal and stuck to the Russian word ruble.

From the collapse of the Soviet Union until May 1992, the Soviet ruble circulated in Belarus alongside with 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-

In 2000, a second ruble was introduced (ISO code BYR), replacing the first at a rate of 1 new ruble = 1000 old rublei. 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, Alexander Lukashenko began to suggest the idea of integration with 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 will be tied to the United States dollar instead of 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".

On January 2, 2009, the Central Bank of the Republic of Belarus lowered the exchange rate of the ruble by 20%.

On May 24, 2011, the Central 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.

Coins

Belarus is a large producer of commemorative coinage for the collectors markets, most particularly gold and silver bullion coins and non circulation legal tender. The designs of such range from fairly ordinary to unique and innovative and themes range widely from "native culture and events" to fairy tales and pop culture topics not relating to Belarus at all. A majority of these coins are denominated with a face value of 1 ruble, with a few denominated in 3 ruble and 5 ruble as well. All these coins are considered novelties and are not likely to be seen in general circulation.

Official circulation coinage has yet to be introduced, making Belarus one of the few countries in the world never to have issued coins and the last of the countries consisting the former Soviet Union to if it ever chooses to do so. The reasons for this are largely due to an endemic problem with rampant inflation which has been a problem since independence.

In 2009 and years since, there has been talk of rebasement and a Third Ruble. The plans for a this revaluation include a set of coins in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50 Kopecks and 1 Ruble. Slovakia has offered to mint these coins and has provided prototypes. However, despite plans for revaluation and the introduction of coinage this has yet to occur and no coins have been introduced.

Banknotes

First ruble

In 1992, banknotes were introduced in denominations of 50 kapeykas, 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 rublei. These were followed by 20,000 rublei in 1994, 50,000 rublei in 1995, 100,000 rublei in 1996, 500,000 rublei in 1998 and 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 rublei in 1999.

1992 — 1999 series [2]
Image		Value	Dimensions (mm)	Main Color	Obverse	Reverse	Date of printing	Date of annul
		50 kopeek	105×53	Orange-pink	Image of sciurus	Pahonia ("Chaser")	May, 25 1992	January, 1 2001
		1 ruble		Grey blue	Image of the running European Hare or "zaichik" which earned the currency its nickname
		3 rubles		Green	Image of beavers
		5 rubles		Blue and pink	Image of gray wolfs
		10 rubles		Dark green	Image of the Eurasian Lynx with kitten
		25 rubles		Orange	Image of moose
		50 rubles		Violet	Image of brown bear
		100 rubles		Green-brown	Image of wisent
		200 rubles		Yellow-green	Image of the train station square		December, 8 1992
		500 rubles		Violet-red	Victory Square, Minsk
		1,000 rubles		Green	National Academy of Sciences of Belarus in Minsk		November, 3 1993
		1,000 rubles	110×60			Large image of the number 1,000	September, 16 1998
		5,000 rubles	105×60	Red	Trinity Hill in Minsk	Pahonia	April, 7 1994
		5,000 rubles	110×60			Large image of the number 5,000	September, 16 1998
		20,000 rubles	150×69	Olive-yellow	National Bank of the Republic of Belarus	Pahonia	December, 28 1994
		50,000 rubles		Light brown	Kholm Gate	Brest Fortress Memorial	September, 15 1995
		100,000 rubles		Grey-brown	Opera and Ballet Theatre (Minsk)	Scene from the ballet "Favourite" («Избранница») by E.A. Hlebau	October, 17 1996
		500,000 rubles		Orange-red	The Republican Trade Unions' Palace of Culture in Minsk	Architectural decorations on the Republican Palace of Culture of Belarus	December, 1 1998
		1,000,000 rubles		Sky-blue	The National Museum of Arts of Belarus in Minsk	Fragment of the picture "Portrait of wife with flowers and fruits" by I. Khrutski	April, 30 1999
		5,000,000 rubles		Light violet	Minsk Sports Palace	Image of the "Raubichy" sports complex	September, 6 1999

Second ruble

In 2000, notes were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 rublei. In 2001, higher denominations of 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 rublei were introduced, followed by 100,000 rublei in 2005. There are no coins or banknotes issued in kapeykas.

"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 IE 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."

2000 Series
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	printing	issue	annul
		1 ruble	110 x 60 mm	Green	The building of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus	Denomination in figures	2000	January 1, 2000	January 1, 2004
		5 rubles		Rose-red	View of the Trayetskaye Pradmyestsye in Minsk				July 1, 2005
		10 rubles		Light blue	The building of the National Library of Belarus				January 1, 2012
		20 rubles	150 x 69 mm	Olive-yellow	The building of the National Bank of Belarus	The interior of the building of the National Bank of Belarus
		50 rubles		Orange-red	The Kholm Gate - fragment of the Memorial Brest Hero-Fortress	The main entrance to the Memorial Brest Hero-Fortress
		100 rubles		Light green	The National Academic Great Opera and Ballet House of Belarus in Minsk	Scene from ballet "Favourite" by E.A. Hlebau
		500 rubles	150 x 74 mm	Light brown	The Republican Trade Unions' Palace of Culture in Minsk	Architectural decorations on the Republican Palace of Culture of Belarus
		1,000 rubles		Light blue	The National Museum of Arts of Belarus in Minsk	Fragment of the picture "Portrait of the wife with flowers and fruits" by I. Khrutski
		5,000 rubles		Light violet	The Palace of Sports in Minsk	Image of the "Raubichy" sporting complex
		10,000 rubles		Pink	Panorama of Vitebsk city	Summer amphitheatre in Vitebsk		April 16, 2001
		20,000 rubles		Grey	Gomel Palace	A view of the palace from A. Idzkouski's picture in Homyel		2002
		50,000 rubles		Sky blue	A castle in the settlement of Mir, Karelichy district, Hrodna Voblast	Decorative collage of architectural elements of Mir Castle		December 20, 2002
		100,000 rubles		Orange	The Nesvizh Castle	View of the Radziwills' Castle in Niasvizh from a painting by the Belarusian artist Napoleon Orda		July 15, 2005
		200,000 rubles		Green	The Mogilev Maslennikov Art Museum	Decorative collage of architectural elements of the museum building		March 12, 2012
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Historical exchange rates

Belarusian rubles per currency unit
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Euro	2683.75	2681.49	2691.88	2937.06	3134.80	3885.38	3949.89
Russian ruble	75.00	76.14	78.90	83.91	86.17	88.06	98.11
United States dollar	2160.24	2153.81	2144.56	2146.07	2136.29	2792.54	2978.10
Source: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2004

Current BYR exchange rates
From Google Finance:	AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY USD RUB
From Yahoo! Finance:	AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY USD RUB
From XE.com:	AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY USD RUB
From OANDA:	AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY USD RUB

See also

• Economy of Belarus
• Least valued currency unit

External links

• National bank of the Republic of Belarus - Official Exchange Rates (English)
• Information about belarusian commemorative coins (English)
• LIVE Belarus Ruble eXchange Rates : BYR (English)