“I bought a dollar at 100, I sell at 90”: what is happening in the capital’s exchange offices

Bucks are now being changed by those who took them at exorbitant prices last year

The main anecdote of recent days: even information boards at currency exchange offices were not ready for rate fluctuations – their potential dried up at the figures of “99.99 rubles”. Hundreds of windows, designed for four characters, do not fit. However, this, of course, is just a rose on the cake. Another thing is important – the dollar is more expensive than 100 rubles, so far it does not fit in the heads of Russians. However, they react to it not so emotionally: they are tired.

Those who, at a conscious age, caught the default of 1998 (by the way, the anniversary is coming soon: tomorrow, August 17, this event will turn 25 years old!), Remember how employees of currency exchange offices jumped out into the street every couple of hours and manually changed the numbers on the scoreboard. Now, of course, everything is electronic, but the scoreboard still does not keep up with the course.

Well, Muscovites are not trying to be in time. The mass hysteria that took place in February and March 2022 – then people were in a hurry to buy currencies for the future as soon as possible and, as a result, almost all bank reserves were raked out – tired everyone out. Today, the currency is changed, of course, but quite calmly.

Let’s look at a bank branch in the very center of Moscow, near the Borovitskaya metro station, dollars can be bought for 104 rubles, and sold for 91. The euro exchange rate is steadily higher by about 10%: 115 and 102 rubles, respectively. The queue to the cash desk, where they change the currency, is small: only three people.

– I bought dollars at the peak, at 105 rubles, at the beginning of March 2022. And almost all of your savings. I panicked,” admits a young woman waiting her turn. – All this time I thought: let them lie, they will come in handy, there will be a reserve for vacation. Now I understand: I will not go on any vacation abroad. Not in the foreseeable future for sure. Not at these prices. But there are expenses that require rubles today. I waited for the course, I change it back. At least I’ll stay with my own people.

According to employees of exchange offices, it is precisely such clients – those who bought currency at exorbitant prices a year and a half ago – are now frequent. However, there are not so many of them, so there is still enough cash dollars and euros. But maybe it won’t be for long.

“Look: it’s morning now, there’s currency in the cash register,” the teller explains to one of the clients. – How many? Well, how much do you need? Two thousand dollars? Eat. Take a ticket, get in line.

At the next point, at a branch of a (another) bank on Krasnaya Presnya, the exchange rate is a little more humane: you can buy a dollar for 98 rubles and sell for 92, and you can buy a euro for 107 and sell for 101. And there are not very many people here either.

It’s simple: I need money now. An airbag in hard currency is wonderful, especially since, despite the big words, the decline of the dollar era is not yet noticeable. But today I need to pay the workers who are doing repairs in my apartment in rubles,” a middle-aged man, who had just stepped away from the currency exchange window, explained laconically.

When asked if it was a pity to sell the currency at such a rate, he just shrugged his shoulders: they say, it’s a pity, of course, but there is no other rate yet and is not expected. Indeed, only minor fluctuations are foreseen. For example, on a nearby street, another exchange office buys dollars at 92.5 rubles, and sells them for 101.5.

Do they buy foreign currency at this rate? Yes. Buy those who need it in the foreseeable future – those who are still going on vacation abroad. The standard amount for such clients is 1500-2000 thousand dollars, which is about how much an average family will need for a couple of weeks of a comfortable stay in Turkey. Those who have paid for an all-inclusive hotel, of course, can be more modest, but you still need to have a cash reserve: Russian cards still do not work abroad, and in case of unforeseen expenses it will be extremely difficult to get out.

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