The expert explained why dollars and euros reappeared in exchangers

The issue of buying foreign currency remains a burning issue for Russians – there is still a rule according to which banks have the right to sell only those dollars and euros that have been received by the cashier in recent months. However, Russians continue to be interested in foreign currency. If a few weeks ago the currency was in short supply, today dollars and euros are almost always available. Who needs – buy. The expert suggested that the Russians are dumping the ballast of dollar savings – they think that they will no longer need foreign currency.

In recent months, they have taught me to enter exchange offices with caution – bad news lies in wait here much more often than good. However, the situation is changing.

Hello, can I buy three thousand dollars? – we go with a question to a bank branch, where a few weeks ago there were serious problems with cash.

– Yes, sure. What banknotes do you want?

Such a surprise! I ask in disbelief:

– And what can you do?

– Yes, you can do anything! The operator laughs. – What do you need?

A short dialogue confirms: yes, cash dollars are available, there is no shortage, and even in medium quantities – say, within five thousand dollars – you can buy them without problems. However, according to the teller, the majority of clients buy currency in small volumes, for 500-1000 dollars, and often ask specifically for small bills.

– People are now going on vacation, to Turkey and Egypt, someone is going to Europe. So small bills are even more convenient for many, – the teller willingly shares.

– Maybe you also have euros in stock?

This question is already completely provocative: if the situation has changed with the American currency over the past year and a half, then it was very difficult to find a European one. Russian tourists who are still heading to Europe have even come up with a tricky maneuver: when flying with transfers in Yerevan, Istanbul or Baku, take cash rubles with you and exchange them for euros there. The course is unfavorable, but there is often no other way.

– In general, the euro is. Well, sometimes they take more, sometimes less, but in principle they are available, – calmly answers the teller.

The course, however, is not the most attractive: today you can buy a dollar for 85.3 rubles, and a euro – for 89.4. At the same time, at the official rate set by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for the weekend of June 10-12, the US dollar is 82.64 rubles, and the euro is 89.01 rubles. It turns out that the real exchange rate is not even catastrophically different from the declared one.

However, the very fact that they can be bought already inspires optimism. Many Muscovites have long said goodbye to the idea that the currency can be bought just like that, without adventures and the need to run around all the exchange offices in the area.

Some even managed to cash out their old accounts.

– Since 2020, I have had a currency card idle, which I got for traveling, it had an account in euros. I decided to close it now: I don’t use it, because everything is blocked abroad, but I just don’t want to pay for the service, ”one of the bank’s clients shared with the MK correspondent. – I came to ask: at what sour rate can I get my balance? There about 680 euros. And suddenly I was offered to take cash. Miracles!

According to the client, just a couple of months ago she needed to buy a modest 50 euros, and then this request puzzled the bank employees.

– Three important trends should be noted here, – Victor Gritsai, a financial analyst, explains in an interview with an MK correspondent. – Firstly, the currency deficit was usually associated with some kind of mass panic, with a change in the situation in the country. For example, the ticket offices were empty at the end of September, after the announcement of partial mobilization and the mass departure of Russians abroad. There have been no such shocks in recent months, so no one is buying up foreign currency. Secondly, the Russians have ceased to rely on dollars and euros as a currency for savings, they are bought only when necessary, before traveling. This is on a much smaller scale, especially since fewer and fewer people can afford foreign resorts. And thirdly, of course, those who have already closed the possibility of going abroad for themselves are now getting rid of their savings in dollars and euros, they no longer need them. Rubles are needed. So the currency appears at the box office – and, accordingly, it is taken away by those who still go abroad. The system, if not back to normal, is at least stabilized.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Elvira Nabiullina, once again advised the people of Russia to keep their savings in rubles – she made such a statement during a press conference last Friday.

– If we are talking about what to save in, then I can only give a recommendation about ruble savings. This means maintaining the purchasing power of the ruble. How many goods and services can you buy with your income, wages. And we are just pursuing a policy aimed at maintaining the purchasing power of the ruble,” she said.