Belarusians, who have their deposits in rubles, lost $1.6 billion because of the devaluation in 2011, reported in the National Bank. The volume of ruble deposits rose by Br4.04 trillion, or 42.2% in 2011.
January 1, 2012, the volume of ruble deposits amounted to Br13.8 trillion (about $1.66 billion). The volume of ruble deposits amounted to Br9.8 trillion (about $3.27 billion) against the same period of 2010.
In December, deposits in Belarusian rubles increased by Br1.3 trillion (11.1%) after rising by Br302.1 billion in November and decreasing by Br172.9 billion in October.
National Bank also noted that the volume of deposits in foreign currency did not increase the level of January 1, 2011: deposits in foreign currency amounted to $4.2 billion January 1, 2012, which is Br170.4 million (about 3.9%) is less than January 1, 2011.
Following the New Year many Belarusian banks have started to reduce interest rates on deposits in Belarusian rubles. For example, January 9, Belrosbank lowered interest rates on deposits "Gift" in Belarusian rubles from 70% to 67%. MTB-bank also started to reduce interest rates on ruble deposits, although they are still high enough. Only "Garant-top" deposit keeps its interest rate unchanged (69% per annum).
