Belarus Shoppers Panic as Ruble Collapses
时间：2011-05-26 08:39:44
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Panicky shoppers in Belarus are buying up consumer goods and scarce food supplies as fast as they can, after a sharp devaluation of the ruble failed to halt a slide in the national currency's value.
Weeks of economic crisis have prompted many Belarusians to buy foreign currency - usually U.S. dollars or euros - to protect themselves against the ruble's
plunge1. The government announced Tuesday the official exchange rate would be 4,930 rubles for $1 as of Wednesday, compared to the previous rate of 3,155 rubles, but that triggered an
immediate2 shift in the ruble's unofficial or black-market price, which now stands at about 6,500 rubles per dollar.
President Alexander Lukashenko unexpectedly announced Wednesday that he may release hundreds of political
activists3 who have been jailed since street protests that greeted the president's re-election five months ago. This is being interpreted as a signal that Mr. Lukashenko may try to
barter4 the prisoners' freedom for financial aid from the West.
This week, Belarusians hoping to protect their
savings5 tried to buy foreign currency before possible further devaluations
erode6 the value of their rubles. Only limited supplies of foreign currency normally are available in state-regulated shops, but those currencies have now disappeared.
Retail prices on imported goods and many domestic supplies already have risen sharply, but consumers
descended7 on shops Wednesday, using their ruble savings to buy any goods before prices could rise again - everything from appliances to
jewelry8, and foods such as rice and frozen chicken.
Word that Mr. Lukashenko is considering a mass release of political prisoners came in a speech the president delivered in Kazakhstan, but it is unclear which detainees might be
affected9.
Dozens of people rounded up after the election-day protests in December have been convicted and sentenced, but many others are awaiting trial.
Among those already sentenced is
opposition10 leader Andrei Sannikov, an opposition candidate who was reported to have the second highest vote total in the disputed presidential
ballot11.
Human-rights groups and Western governments have
condemned12 Mr. Lukashenko for the crackdown on protesters.
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