‘Our customers started converting their ruble deposits into foreign currency ones (which led to a drop in the former and an increase in the latter) due to the growing dollar and euro exchange rates. One could suppose this trend is to continue this year until the main cause of the rate fluctuations is present – that is, the weakening of the ruble against the dollar and the euro,’ Rus-Bank-Ural’s Market Analysis Director Konstantin Yushkov said to an UrBC reporter.

In the meantime, the ruble rate keeps going down against the U.S. dollar, which has been causing a decrease in the volume of ruble deposits in Sverdlovsk Region’s banks lately. According to the data provided by the Bank of Russia for January-November 2008, the volume of ruble deposits opened by both individuals and entities keeps dropping, while the foreign exchange deposits enjoy enormous demand.

‘To get protected from the risks related to currency rate fluctuations, I suggest that borrowers, for instance, take a loan in the currency they are planning to make an income in and to pay their debt off with,’ Yushkov noted.