On November 23, 2007 the Bank of Russia registered the US dollar exchange rate at the level of 23.42 RUR per one US dollar. This is the lowest US dollar rate recorded since August 1999. On the contrary, the rate of the European currency tends to exceed its own peak values, and its rate on November 23, 2007 amounted to 36.09 RUR per Euro. The crumbling of the US dollar rate causes no boom over the exchange offices. However, the Bank of Russia’s reports show that in 2007, the monthly amounts of US dollars sold by natural persons were always higher than the volumes of US dollars bought by them. In other words, Russian citizens keep getting rid of their US dollars.

'Russians are falling out of a habit of investing their savings in US dollars. The final payments for major purchases like cars or real estate are rarely made in US dollars. Confidence in our national currency is ever-growing. For example, an overwhelming majority of fixed-term deposits are made in Russian rubles now', indicated Denis Belogurov, SKB-Bank’s Deposit Director.

At the same time, the demand of natural persons for the Euro cash is higher than their supply to the exchange offices, the Bank of Russia reports.