MOSCOW, April 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Central Bank said Thursday net demand for foreign cash had grown considerably with a shift in focus from dollars to euros.
According to the bank's Web site, a review of foreign cash movement through authorized banks showed that Russians had stepped up activities on the foreign cash market in February.
"A sharp decline in the euro rate has prompted people to shift focus to the European currency," the Central Bank said.
Net demand for foreign cash, the margin in the volume of currency sold by and purchased from individuals, rose more than 50% to 0.84 billion in the dollar equivalent on January. Euro transactions accounted for 58% of the figure. Net demand in transactions with residents jumped 17% to $0.47 billion, while with non-residents it increased nearly 2.4-fold to $0.36 billion.
Net demand for the dollar dropped to 42% ($0.35 billion) against 64% in January. Demand for the euro increased 2.4-fold to 0.48 billion in the dollar equivalent.
In February, authorized banks imported foreign currency worth 0.89 billion in the dollar equivalent, a drop of 20% against January. Dollar cash imports fell 50% in February, whereas euro imports rose 66%, bringing the euro share in foreign currency imports to 54%, compared with 26% in January.
Foreign currency exports fell by 19% to 0.2 billion. The dollar share in overall currency exports slipped from 96% in January to 93% in February.
In February, as in previous months, money transfers from Russia without opening current accounts were more frequent than transfers to Russia. The net volume of transfers hit $0.27 billion, up 17% month on month.
