First ruble, 1992-2000
From the collapse of the Soviet Union until May of 1992, the Soviet ruble circulated Belarus. New Russian banknotes also circulated in Belarus but they were replaced by notes issued by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus in May 1992. The first post-Soviet Belarusian ruble was assigned the ISO code BYB and replaced the Soviet currency at the rate of 1 Belarusian ruble = 10 Soviet rublei. It took about two years before the ruble became the official currency of the country
In 1992, banknotes were introduced in denominations of 50 kapeek, 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 and 5000 rublei. These were followed by 20,000 rublei in 1994, 50,000 rublei in 1995, 100,000 rublei in 1996, 500,000 rublei in 1998 and 1 and 5 million rublei in 1999.
Second ruble, 2000-
In 2000, a second ruble was introduced (ISO code BYR), replacing the first at a rate of 1 new ruble = 1000 old rublei. Only banknotes have been issued, with the only coins issued being commemoratives for collectors
In 2000, notes were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 rublei. In 2001, higher denominations of 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 rublei were introduced, followed by 100,000 rublei in 2005. There are no coins or banknotes issued in kapeek.
Monetary integration with Russia
From the beginning of his presidency, Alexander Lukashenko began to suggest the idea of integration with Russian Federation and to undertake steps in this direction. From the beginning, there was also an idea of introducing a united currency for the Union of Russia and Belarus. Art. 13 of the 1999 "Treaty of Creation of the Union State of Russia and Belarus" foresaw a unified currency. Discussions about the Union currency has continued past the 2005 implementation goal set by both nations. Starting in 2008, the Central Bank of the Republic of Belarus announced that the ruble will be tied to the United States dollar instead of the Russian ruble. |