DUSHANBE, July 1, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Belarus news agency BelPAN ranked Tajikistan the second among the former Soviet republic in terms of currency devaluation over the first six months of this year.

According to BelPAN, the Tajik national currency, the somoni, fell 27.47 percent against the dollar in January-June 2009 -- from 3.4519:1 to 4.40:1.

The sharpest devaluation of the national currency was reported in Belarus, where the Belarus ruble fell 28.95 percent against the dollar over the report period – from 2.20:1 to 2.837:1.

The Kazak national currency, the tenge, fell 24.54 percent against the dollar in January-June 2009 (from 120.77:1 to 150.41:1), the Armenian dram fell 17.39 percent (from 306.73:1 to 360.06), and the Kyrgyz som fell 9.8 percent against the dollar (from 39.4181:1 to 43.281:1).

The Moldavian national currency, the leu, fell 8.11 percent against the dollar over the same six-month period – from 10.4002:1 to 11.2435:1.  The Russian ruble fell 6.501 percent (from 29.3804:1 to 31.2904:1), the Uzbek sum fell 6.497 percent (from 1,393:1 to 1,483.5:1), the Latvian lat – 1.21 percent (from 0.495:1 to 0.501:1), the Lithuanian lit – 0.55 percent (from 2.4507:1 to 2.4643:1, and the Azeri manat – 0.39 percent (from 0.801:1 to 0.8041:1).

In the meantime, the national currencies of three former Soviet republics have risen against the dollar over the report period.  The Estonian national currency, the kroon, rose 0.05 percent against the dollar in January-June 2009 – from 11.1052:1 to 11.0996:1.  The Georgian lari rose 0.55 percent (from 1.667:1 to 1.6579:1) and the Ukrainian hryvnia rose 0.9 percent (from 7.7:1 to 7.6303:1).