 Novosti Money changers swap rubles for dollars on Fokina Street. |
This spring Vladivostok pensioner Inna Kryuchkova had accumulated 5,000 rubles (then worth about $819) in the state Sberbank, but she was getting nervous.
After hearing rumors that the ruble might be devalued, she withdrew her money in May and changed it into dollars. And with the devaluation of the ruble Aug. 17, she believes she made the right decision.
“Now I’m so happy that I did this,” Kryuchkova said. “I gave this money to my son, who has a business, and from the turnover of this money, he can pay a better percent than the Sberbank. And this seems more reliable at the moment.”
Throughout the Far East, citizens are struggling to make sense of the news that the ruble has been devalued. As late as Aug. 14, President Yeltsin promised that the ruble would remain at 6.45 per dollar; now it will float between the old rate and 9.5 rubles to the dollar.
In Vladivostok, exchange offices opened Aug. 18 with rate of 6.8 rubles to the dollar, Interfax-Eurasia reported. By Aug. 19, the Versailles was buying dollars at a rate of 6.80 rubles but selling for 8.50. Many shops dealing in foreign goods – such as refrigerators, microwave ovens, and computers – closed altogether.
In Khabarovsk, most exchange offices were closed, and those that didn’t were trading at rates of between 8 and 9 rubles to the dollar. But Interfax found no shops that had closed.
In Sakhalin, Gov. Igor Farkhutdinov blasted the devaluation in a press conference.
“I absolutely agree with the point of view of ex-Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin that if the dollar costs more than seven rubles, that will lead to the collapse of the Russian economy,” he said.
For people whose savings were devastated by the runaway inflation of the early 1990s, the devaluation was cause for alarm. But despite key sectors such as banks and shops trading in foreign goods, Vladivostok residents showed none of the panic that was reported in Moscow Aug. 17, where the prices of goods like cigarettes immediately jumped, and people rushed to banks to cash in their rubles.
Alexander Ivanov and Tatiana Klimchuk, an unemployed couple who make cigarette and gas money transporting riders for a fee, said the devaluation would have little immediate impact on them. “We’re bankrupt,” explained Klimchuk.
But she worried that soon prices will go up. “They broadcast in Moscow that prices are rising according to the devaluation of the ruble, and it will happen here,” Klimchuk said.
(The federal government has promised to crack down on those who take advantage of the devaluation to raise prices.)
Ivanov, who used to run a small shop selling beer on tap, scathingly criticized Yeltsin. “He’s doing the worst of jobs,” Ivanov said. It leaves him despairing about Russia’s future. “If you don’t steal or don’t cheat,” he added, “you’re done for.”
Downtown, moneychangers lined up along a street, fists full of rubles. Clipped to their collars were scraps of cardboard with a crudely drawn yen or dollar sign. Trading money on the street is illegal, and those who talked to the Vladivostok News gave only their first name and patronymic.
Yelena Vasilievna, a stout babushka dressed in multiple sweatshirts, said her exchange rate was 7.5 rubles to the dollar, up 1.3 rubles from last week. “Of course people are panicked, because buying food will be more expensive,” she said.
The money panic brought paranoid speculation from some, including Yelena Vasilievna. “Kiryenko and other officials studied in the United States, and they have some sort of program to eliminate the Russian nationality. They want to bring the Russian population to 50 million by 2000.”
Others claimed that Moscow authorities weren’t going to honor the devaluation, so the ruble would be worth less in Vladivostok than in the capital (in fact, this is impossible).
But moneychanger Tatiana Vasilievna said people haven’t been too worried about the devaluation, and she thinks the ruble will settle back down.
“We had a Black Tuesday before, so people are used to this kind of thing,” she said.
On Fokina Street, vendors said the price of wholesale clothing will rise, forcing them to raise their prices.
“The situation is that you can’t raise children and can’t feed them,” said vendor Irina Sozina. “We’ve been starving, me and my child. I don’t know how I will live in the winter, because I can’t stand out here in the winter and I can’t find a job anywhere else. I’m surprised people are silent about this.”
Nonna Chernyakova contributed to this report.
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