Historical Sketch

Belarusian statehood began in the early 20th century during the Russian civil war, while before the territory had been under Russian and Lithuanian rule. The National Republic and the Socialist Soviet Republic co-existed for a short period until the Communist groups finally prevailed in mid-1920. In 1922, Russia joined with the three states of (Eastern) Ukraine, Belarus, and Transcaucasia to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, Germany occupied the western part of the Soviet Union. Two administrative units were created by the military command, the "Reichskommissariat" Ostland (Baltic and Belarus) and Ukraine. The Germans got expelled in 1944, and Belarus got re-integrated into the USSR. In 1990, Belarus declared itself sovereign within the Soviet Union and became an independent state with the dissolution of the USSR at the end of 1991.

Monetary History Overview

The ephemeral Belarusian states of the late 1910s did not issue any currency of their own, neither did the German occupation state of Ostland. The first national currency appeared in July 1992, when the 1st Belarusian Ruble was introduced as transitional paper money that circulated alongside the Soviet and Russian banknotes. In January 1993, the peg to the Russian Ruble was abandoned, and the Ruble quickly lost lost value against the Russian currency. When Russia demonetized the Soviet banknotes in July 1993, Belarus followed suit a week after. In May 1994, finally, also the Russian banknotes lost their legal tender status. In April 1995, the central bank attempted a currency stabilization and introduced a peg against the US Dollar, but the measure was unsuccessful and got abandoned a year later. The depreciation continued and even accelerated further. In January 2000, three zeros were cut, and the 2nd Belarusian Ruble became the new currency unit. The depreciation began to slow down and by the mid-2000s, the exchange rate could be stabilized for a couple of years. During this time, Belarus tried again to enter into a currency union with Russia with target date of 2005, but this came never into effect as disparity between the Belarusian and Russian economies were too big. In 2009, the Ruble began depreciating again, reaching the top in 2011 with an almost 70% annual decline. In July 2016, the currency was reformed for the second time since independence. Four zeros were cut, and the 3rd Belarusian Ruble got introduced. The new currency remained stable until the early 2020s when the depreciated again. After the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, Belarus, as a supporter, came under international economic sanctions, and the stability of Ruble came under further pressure.

Belarus joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 10.07.1992.

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