Below is the translation of Abdulgamid’s post from Russian-language part of the blog.

Starting from April 19 there is a new commercial exchange rate fixed for US dollars. From January 1, 2008 buying exchange rate was 19 800 Manat, and selling rate was 20 000 Manat. On April 19, 2008 the buying rate went down to 17 430 Manat, and the selling rate – 17 600 Manat. Such sudden fall of US dollar exchange rate by 12% made people, who rushed to get rid of foreign currency, swarm near the exchange offices, as there are persistent rumors in the air that the exchange rate soon will go down to 15 000 Manat per $1.

Currently there are two types of exchange rate applicable in Turkmenistan. One is the official exchange rate - 6 250 Manat / $1, another – is a commercial one, which appears to be going swiftly down to the same level.

It has become clear to everyone that the government intends to fix by the end of this years a uniform exchange rate for Turkmen currency by decreasing the commercial exchange rate to the level of the official in order to implement 1/1000 Manat denomination.

At the time of prices for commodities and services getting higher, the devaluation of foreign currency only aggravates this bias and gives rise to the sense of insecurity of the future day, fear to loose all savings, since Turkmen people preferred to exchange all their Manat savings for US dollars because of the poorly developed banking system distrusted by ordinary savers.