How much was the dollar in the USSR? How did the dollar change during the Soviet era?

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

How much was the dollar in the USSR? In order not to torment the reader, we will immediately make a reservation: on average, sixty kopecks! And now more.

Shortly after the emergence of the USSR, a decree was issued that exchange rates would be set by the state. Currency transactions were minimized, and the dollar exchange rate was strictly controlled.

During the entire second half of the twentieth century, the dollar in the USSR cost less than one ruble, and only a few citizens had it, and then in a limited amount, necessary for traveling abroad or in other exceptional cases.

All payments were made only in rubles, and only the State Bank could buy and sell foreign currency.

The dollar exchange rate in the USSR in the first half of the twentieth century

After the reform of 1924, it was equal to 2 rubles 22 kopecks.

The monetary system of the USSR withstood the Great Patriotic War with dignity, even though the amount of money increased almost four times. For comparison: in Italy it has increased tenfold, and in Japan - elevenfold.

However, along with the surplus of money, there were other problems: commercial, ration and market prices, as well asmoney settled in the pockets of speculators.

Bretton Woods conference and the fate of the dollar

Even at the end of the war, in 1944, the International Monetary and Financial Conference was held in Bretton Woods (USA), in which forty-four states, including the Soviet Union, took part. At the same time, the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development were established.

America has offered to fix the price of gold at $35 per troy ounce - the so-called gold standard. The dollar was declared the world's reserve currency. Gold and some European countries were transported to Fort Knox, where the American gold reserves were stored. As a result, 75 percent of the world's gold was stored there.

The Soviet Union was offered special conditions for joining the team without storing gold in the US. But other conditions proposed for joining the organization seemed unacceptable to the country's leadership, and the USSR did not ratify the agreement.

Stalin's post-war reforms

Stalin set a course for the independence of the national currency. Monetary reforms, however, were planned even before the international conference, but they were definitely decided only at the end of 1947.

An exchange of money was made, which the vast majority of citizens survived without damage. The salary has remained the same. Deposits up to three thousand rubles were exchanged one for one, from three to ten thousand - one third was reduced, and more than ten thousand - reductiontwo-thirds of the savings were subject. At the same time, the rationing system was abolished. It happened earlier than in other victorious countries. Prices for retail goods - groceries and industrial products - also fell. Thus, the consequences of the Great Patriotic War in the monetary system were eliminated, and the volume of the money supply decreased at least three times.

In early 1950, Stalin ordered to recalculate the exchange rate of the new ruble. The financiers, having calculated everything, offered 14 rubles for one US dollar. How much was the dollar in the USSR before recalculation? 53 rubles. Iosif Vissarionovich, however, ordered a further depreciation of the ruble against the dollar. The most that could be expected was 4 rubles for one US dollar.

The national currency of the USSR was transferred to a gold basis, thereby canceling the dollar peg. The purchase price for one gram of gold by the State Bank was set at 4 rubles 45 kopecks. In this way, Stalin protected the ruble from the dollar, since the United States of America intended to transfer the accumulated cash surpluses in their country to other countries, solving their problems in this way and imposing them on others.

Moscow International Forum

In 1952, the Moscow Forum was held, where it was proposed to create a common market that would be free from the influence of the US dollar and would serve as a counterbalance to US expansion and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Most European countries have already come under US pressure.

Forty-nine countries that do not want to obey the dollar,took part in this forum. Many agreements were signed and the principles of exclusion of settlements in dollar terms, the possibility of barter, the harmonization of policies, various kinds of benefits, and so on were proclaimed.

But in 1953 Stalin passed away. And countries gradually began to deviate from the proclaimed principles, adjusting to the dollar. The gold content of the ruble was reduced tenfold, and at the end of the seventies it was completely eliminated. The USSR began to provide other countries with cheap raw materials, and the gold reserves began to melt rapidly. But later.

Moscow People's Bank in London

In 1956, the USSR, in order to avoid American sanctions, decides to transfer the available funds from American banks to the United Kingdom - to the Moscow People's Bank in London. It gives out a small loan, however, does not overlap with the US banking system. Funds were also transferred to another Soviet bank located abroad, the Eurobank of Paris. Later, dollars that were in circulation on the European financial market became known as Eurodollars.

The first threats to the world currency and their consequences

The system began to loosen. In the 1960s, the amount of dollars outside the United States reached the level of America's entire gold reserve. At the same time, Charles de Gaulle demanded French gold back in exchange for dollars and received it. After France, the leaders of other countries began to say the same thing. Then they partially refused the right to exchange for gold.

In the 1970s, the US had to lower the gold content of its currency. In 1971year, the conversion of the dollar into gold ceased.

How much was the dollar in the USSR

The dollar ceased to be a safe currency, and any dollar account could be closed. Many arrests were made on dollars belonging to the Soviet Union. At that time, the dollar exchange rate in the USSR (1975) was 75 kopecks. It had a smooth downward trend towards 60 kopecks.

In the eighties, the level of industry continued to grow. From 679 billion rubles in 1980, industry grew to 819 billion rubles by 1990. Industrial exports accounted for only 10 percent. Both imports and exports have varied over the years in the range of plus or minus 70 billion rubles.

Valiant democrats like to say that the dollar was exchanged against the ruble in the USSR in those years on the black market at a rate that was very, very different from the official one. Well, here you just need to do a little analysis. If there were a huge difference, as some argue, then imports and exports would inevitably be very different. However, the figures are approximately equal.

The official dollar exchange rate in the USSR from 1970 until the end of the eighties varied from 90 kopecks to 60 kopecks. In the late eighties and until the collapse of the Soviet Union, it kept with minimal changes at 60 kopecks.

The end of the Soviet Union

In 1991, the price of the dollar in the USSR became equal to 1 ruble 85 kopecks. This happened because the State Bank began to selldollar exactly at this price - commercial. However, by that time, in fact, on the black market, the value of the dollar in the USSR reached from 30 to 43 rubles. Since mid-1992, the dollar has become a market rate. And at the end of 1992, the Soviet Union was gone.

Today's realities

How much the dollar cost in the USSR must be remembered in the light of today's realities. In the nineties and two thousand years, so many dollars settled in the pockets of citizens of the Russian Federation that more circulated only in the United States of America.

At present, the state has again set a course for the independence of the ruble. However, there is no iron curtain now, everyone in Russia can freely express their point of view, and there is no that ruthless attitude towards people that was in Stalin's time. Therefore, it is impossible to carry out all the necessary reforms in a few days, as it was seventy years ago. Russia is too deeply immersed in dollar dependence, and inside the liberal elites continue to persuade the state to the old dollar path. It will take patience, courage and a willingness to resist US expansion to become a fully independent nation.