The troubled Belarussian rouble sank further in interbank trading on Monday as the country's currency crisis deepened, threatening to erode people's incomes and eat away at the value of savings. In early trading, the national currency tumbled to 6,300 roubles per dollar from 5,900 on Saturday, trading at half its official rate, one market source said.
"There is quite a strong decline from early morning. The quotes are quite chaotic. I think the market is trying to find a rate," the source said. The sharp devaluation, which set in dramatically in the ex-Soviet republic last week after Russia snubbed a request for a bailout loan, is eating away at ordinary people's incomes and savings. Wage increases by President Alexander Lukashenko ahead of December's presidential election which he won are also eroding.
Russia, Belarus's main supplier of oil and gas but which, like the West, often finds itself at odds with Lukashenko, told the authoritarian leader last week that Minsk could only get $1 billion this year from a special fund and advised it to seek help from the International Monetary Fund.
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