Belarus Steps Up Capital Controls to Stem Ex-Soviet Currency Rot
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Belarus imposed capital controls that include a fee on all foreign-exchange purchases, as the fallout from Russia’s biggest currency crisis since 1998 spread across the former Soviet Union.
The measures announced by the central bank in Minsk range from an increase to 50 percent of the share of mandatory sales of foreign revenue for companies to a 30 percent charge on currency purchases by individuals and legal entities, according to a statement today. The regulator also raised interest rates on its liquidity operations to 50 percent and instructed banks to halt issuing local-currency loans until Feb. 1.