P.M. BRIEFING : Travel Ruble Devalued Tenfold
MOSCOW — The State Bank today announced a tenfold decrease in the value of the ruble against the dollar for people and firms needing convertible currency to travel abroad.
The new rate, set at 6.26 rubles to the dollar, is a tacit admission by Soviet authorities that the ruble is not worth anything approaching the existing official rate of .6277 to the dollar.
The announcement, reported by Tass press agency, indicated the standard rate will remain in effect for most transactions, such as for foreign firms doing business in the Soviet Union and for most international trade with the West.
Because the ruble cannot be freely exchanged for dollars, yen, marks and other hard currencies, it has virtually no value outside the Soviet Union.
Tass gave no explanation for the devaluation, and Igor Kozlovsky, deputy chief of the joint currency economics department of the Finance Ministry, refused to give more details on the decision. He would say only that it had been approved by the Council of Ministers.
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