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Most Russians have no intention to buy dollars
According to an online survey conducted by Otkrytiye Bank on July 1-6, a quarter of Russians find the current official ruble-to-dollar exchange rate absolutely realistic, more than half of Russians would like to see the dollar rate not exceeding 30 rubles, and 31% are ready to start buying dollars after the currency restrictions have been lifted.
55% of Russians monitor the exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar and other foreign currencies permanently or often (22% do so every day, another 33% often, at least twice a week). 24% do this rarely, several times a month, and 13% - very rarely, once a month at the most. As few as 8% respondents report that they never monitor currency exchange rates.
19% of respondents believe that the current ruble-dollar exchange rate is artificially over-evaluated. Most often, this point of view is found in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region (24%), least often – in the Urals (14%). According to 27% of respondents, the ruble-dollar exchange, on the contrary, is artificially under-evaluated (37% of respondents answered this way in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, while in the North Caucasus – as few as 17%). The current ruble-dollar exchange rate is found realistic by 24% of respondents (among them 31% in Moscow and the Moscow region, and as few as 15% in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region). 29% found it difficult to answer this question.
26% of the respondents (the Southern Federal District, where 37% answered this way, clearly stands out here) would prefer the “Soviet” ruble rate of about 65 kopecks per dollar. 27% believe that the ideal ruble-dollar exchange rate should be in the range of 20-30 rubles. 18% consider this rate to be 30-50 rubles, 15% – 50-70 rubles, 8% – 70-80 rubles and 5% – more than 80 rubles per dollar.
Only 19% believe that the current exchange rate harms the Russian economy and the ruble should be weakened in order to help domestic exporters (23% in the Moscow region, 10% in the Southern Federal District and the Far East each). 39% see no need to weaken the ruble, being sure that exporters will not go bankrupt. 42% found it difficult to answer this question.
61% of respondents are not going to massively buy dollars if restrictions on foreign exchange transactions are lifted in Russia after September 9, explaining that by the lack of free funds to buy foreign currency. This answer was received from residents of the North Caucasus (71%) most often, while residents of Moscow and the Moscow Region answered this way least often (45%). Another 8% reported that they do not need more dollars, since they already have a sufficient amount of foreign currency (among them 13% in the Moscow region, 2% in the North Caucasus).
After the restrictions are lifted, 18% of respondents are ready to massively start buying dollars in cash for trips abroad, another 13% – for the purpose of accumulating personal foreign currency reserves.