No compensation for “burnt“ deposits in Belarus

Neither banks nor the state are going to carry out indexation or any kind of compensation for depositors’ losses due to inflation.

It has been stated by Chairperson of the Board of the National Bank Nadezhda Yermakova during a "hot line" in Sovetskaya Belorussia newspaper.

Thus, Belarusbank would not adjust according to index the deposits depreciated due to devaluation, as "its funds in Belarusian rubles had depreciated as well", the head of the National bank said.

"So now depositors are to some extent to receive compensation due to rise in the interest rate on deposits. The National bank has also raised the refinancing rate once again. Consequently, commercial banks will raise interest rates. So far only this mechanism is possible", Nadezhda Yermakova said.

"So people should not hurry to withdraw money (in Belarusian rubles) and convert them into US dollars and Euros. Moreover, the situation in the global economy, in the European Union and the US is rather difficult, and no one knows what would happen to their money. And interest rate for ruble accounts are much higher now," the main banker of the country concludes.

The state is not ready to assume the burden of compensations as well: "Last year the question of deposits compensation by the state budget was discussed. Different variants were discussed. But unfortunately, the situation in the economy shaped itself in such a way that no additional sources of funds have appeared. They have even shrunk. It is possible that once better times would come for us in terms of finances, this issue would be discussed again. Anyway, this issue of household deposits compensation has not been taken off from the agenda. But it is still too early to speak about that now."

Oil, gas, Greece and other EU countries are to blame

"The situation in the world economy is very complicated," Yermakova stated. "You probably know what is going on in Greece, what is imminent in Italy, Portugal, Spain, other EU countries. No one can suppose today what influence this system-level crisis could have on our country and on other countries; how it is going to influence gas and oil prices, other resources. I can tell you for sure that if we were not dependent on oil and gas, we would not have such financial problems, we would not have problems with currency. We should understand and accept as a fact that we depend on the world energy resources market conjuncture, on the prices for energy resources."