'Dollar Exchange Situation Has Changed Dramatically'

• 5.02.2025, 13:23

A Belarusian woman spoke about problems in exchange offices.

A reader of the Charter97.org website told how the situation in Belarusian exchange offices has changed:

"I live alone, on a pension benefits. Therefore, my life cannot be called luxurious, wealthy, or 'dolce vita'. Once you pay for utilities, mobile communications and go to the medicine pharmacy, pennies are left from the pension.

Fortunately, throughout my life I have been gathering little by little in my piggy bank in dollars, and later in euros. And thus I created, albeit a small, but "stabilization fund". And if some kind of incident happens, I go to the exchange office so as not to have nothing but food for thought.

In the last year, some kind of hell has begun. No matter where you come, they do not want to exchange money: either wrinkled, or scratched, or moldy. But I don't change 100 or 200 bills. But 10, 20 dollar bills. But when I bought them at my bank, they assured me that there was no problem.

But no, there was a problem. And often I would return from the exchange office with 'enemy currency', take another bill, and go again.

I would bring the bills that were not accepted at our local bank to Minsk, where I would change them without any questions.

But the situation has changed dramatically in the last few months. They accept torn, "grimy", and crumpled ones.

Probably, a hole has formed in the regime's treasury, and you can't print dollars and euros like those rubles. The regime urgently needs foreign currency cash, and it doesn't matter what it looks like."