Беларусь второй раз за неделю снизила курс рубля к доллару на 7%.

UPDATE 2-BELARUS DEVALUES CURRENCY AGAIN TO PROTECT AGAINST RUSSIAN ECONOMIC FALLOUT
RTRS
08-Jan-2015 22:29

Central bank devalues currency by another 7 pct
Second devaluation this week
Raises refinancing rate; govt imposes new potash export tax

(Adds background on economy, imposition of potash export duty, higher refinancing rate)

By Andrei Makhovsky

MINSK, Jan 8 (Reuters) — Belarus took further emergency steps on Thursday to defend itself from economic turmoil in Russia, devaluing its currency by around 7 percent for the second time this week, raising its main refinancing rate and imposing a new export tax on potash.

Former Soviet countries are feeling the pain as Russia, often the main trading partner, suffers from Western sanctions over Ukraine and a sliding oil price, which sent the Russian rouble RUB= down by about 40 percent against the dollar last year.

Belarus, with a population of 9.4 million, has had to take swift action to protect its command economy that is closely tied to that of its giant neighbour, which accounts for half of Belarussian exports and provides Minsk with substantial subsidies.

The Belarus central bank, which cut the Belarussian rouble's official rate USDRBYFIX= by about 7 percent on Monday, said it was further clipping the rate to 13,760 roubles per dollar starting on Jan. 9, from 12,740.