Belarusian state banks not foreseeing nat'l currency gains on off-exchange market
MINSK. May 5 (Interfax) - State banks in Belarus - Belarusbank, Belagroprombank, and Belinvestbank - are not expecting to see any short-term gains on the off-exchange market by the national currency exchange rate with the U.S. dollar, which has held for a week now at 5,000 Belarusian rubles to the dollar, much lower than the official exchange rate, which was 3,007 Bel. rubles/$1 on May 5.
A survey conducted by Interfax on Wednesday revealed that among state banks the most attractive rate for buying non-cash dollars to exporters is offered by Belinvestbank: with a purchase-rate limit of 5,000 Bel. rubles/$11, clients of other banks are being offered a rate of 5,100 Bel. rubles/$ as a premium. The exchange rate depends directly on the amount of a deal involving foreign currency: if a potential client offers for sale an amount exceeding $20,000, then the agreed rate could be 5,150 Bel. rubles/$. This bank has also set the lowest margin in non-cash forex-exchange operations, having set a selling rate at 5,200 Bel. rubles/$1.
Belarusbank is prepared to buy non-cash dollars from legal entities at 4,800 Bel. rubles/$1, and to sell at 5,000 Bel. rubles/$1. The bank also sets the rate for selling freely convertible currency based on individual negotiations with legal-entity buyers taking the amount of the deal into account. A final decision on pricing the sale of foreign currency to a legal entity is made by the bank's financial committee.
Belagroprombank has set its purchase rate at 4,750 Bel. rubles/$1, its sales rate at 5,050 Bel. rubles/$1. A bank employee said that this rate is somewhat lower than the market rate, adding that "if the amount of the sale is close to $50,000, then other banks can buy at 5,000 Bel. rubles/$1."
Employees at the various banks Interfax surveyed were of the view that, if the market situation is favorable, the current exchange rate on the off-exchange market will persist for at least the next two months. They would not offer predictions on prospective ruble-rate movement, but did say it would not strengthen because of a significant volume of deferred demand for foreign currency among importers. They said that the flow of foreign currency purchased from exporters prevents importers' needs from being fully met.
Over the last seven or eight days, the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) has been balancing the free-floating devaluation of the Belarusian ruble against the currency basket (U.S. dollar, euro, Russian ruble) at the low end, which, in accordance with the current main lines of monetary-lending policy for 2011, should not top 8%. So, the NBB is formally within planned parameters for national-currency exchange rate fluctuation, the stability of which is a declared goal of that policy.
Belarusbank ended H1 2010 in 12th by assets among CIS banks and 1st among 31 Belarusian banks on the Interfax-1000: CIS Banks ranking. Belagroprombank held a respective 26th and 2nd, and Belinvestbank 86th and 4th.