DUSHANBE, March 2, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Belarus’ new agency BelPan has ranked Tajikistan 7th among the former Soviet republic in terms of currency devaluation.

According to BelPan, the Tajik national currency, the somoni, has fallen 8.3 percent against the dollar over the first two months of this year from – from 3.4519 to 3.7395.

Over report period, Belarus has seen the highest increase in the exchange rate of the dollar against the national currency.  In Belarus, the USD exchange rate has risen 29.91 percent over the first two months of 2009, reaching 1:2.858.  Belarus is followed by Kazakhstan, where the US exchange rate has risen 24.56 percent – from 1:120.77 to 1:150.43.

In Russia, the USD exchange rate over the report period has risen 21.28 percent – from 1:29.3804 to 1:35.7205, Latvia – 11.72 percent (from 1:0.495 to 1:0.553), Estonia – 11.24 percent (from 1:11.1052 to 1:12.3537), Lithuania – 10.78 percent – from 1:2.4507 to 2.715).

In Kyrgyzstan, the USD exchange rate over the report period has risen 4.42 percent – from 1:39.4181 to 1:41.162, Moldova – 2.52 percent (from 1:10.4002 to 1:10.6625), Uzbekistan – 1.11 percent (from 1:1,393 too 1:1,408.44), Georgia – 1.02 percent (from 1:1.667 to 1:1.684), and Azerbaijan – 0.52 percent (from 1:0.801 to 1:0.8052).

In Turkmenistan and Ukraine, the USD exchange rate has remained the same over the report period – 1:2.85 and 1:7.7 respectively.

In Armenia, the dollar fell 0.29 percent against the national currency in January-February 2009 -- from 1:306.73 to 1:305.