BBC News – Belarus imposes duty on foreign currency purchases.
Belarus’s central bank has introduced a 30% duty on all purchases of foreign currency to try to protect its rouble.
Belarusian exporters will also be required to convert more of their overseas earnings into local currency.
The country is feeling the effects of the fall in the value of the Russian rouble, which reached new lows against the dollar this week.
The Belarusian economy is closely linked to Russia, which is its biggest trading partner.
The central bank said it had “adopted a number of measures aimed at preventing the development of negative trends on the currency and financial markets of Belarus.”
There were reports of some foreign exchange offices running out of money and queues forming at banks as people tried to withdraw money.
