Is USD real value Br1440?
If we believe the BigMac index, the Belarusian rubel is undervalued at Br700. The influential British mazaine, The Economist, annually makes consuming power of the currencies from different countries by having lunches in MacDonalds restaurants. BigMac is the same everywhere, but it is the price which varies.
The magazine's journalists evaluate the cost of BigMac in various countries to get the buying power of the world's currencies against the dollar. According to the report, in Russia the dollar should cost only Rur 15 instead of the current Rur26.4 against the American currency.
The Ukrainian hryvna is undervalued at 40 percent. The Belarusian BigMac was not on the list, but the European Radio for Belarus has corrected this omission and compared the cost of the American BigMac with the Belarusian one.
In the U.S. it costs $3.40 or Br7330. In a MacDonalds restaurant in Minsk, the same burger costs Br4900 ($2.03).
It means that the Belarusian rubel is undervalued and USD should cost only Br1440?!
The former chairman of the National Bank of Belarus, Stanislau Bagdankevich, agrees that our currency is undervalued, but only theoretically:
“It is true that the dollar is overvalued in this country! This is market. It always happens that in a poorly developed country, the cost of the national currency is always overvalued. But the dollar in any country costs as much as it buys the local currency. The rest is just theory. In fact, if I were the chairman of the National Bank today, I would go for a certain devaluation of the national currency to prevent the loss-making operation of the country's light indusrty”.
Our BigMac is more expensive than the one in Ukraine ($1.71) and in Egypt ($1.6). Belarusians spend the same money as Ruussian to buy this burger. The most expensive BigMacs are in New Zealand ($5.89). The cheapest one is in China ($1.45), according to The Economist.
The magazine's journalists evaluate the cost of BigMac in various countries to get the buying power of the world's currencies against the dollar. According to the report, in Russia the dollar should cost only Rur 15 instead of the current Rur26.4 against the American currency.
The Ukrainian hryvna is undervalued at 40 percent. The Belarusian BigMac was not on the list, but the European Radio for Belarus has corrected this omission and compared the cost of the American BigMac with the Belarusian one.
In the U.S. it costs $3.40 or Br7330. In a MacDonalds restaurant in Minsk, the same burger costs Br4900 ($2.03).
It means that the Belarusian rubel is undervalued and USD should cost only Br1440?!
The former chairman of the National Bank of Belarus, Stanislau Bagdankevich, agrees that our currency is undervalued, but only theoretically:
“It is true that the dollar is overvalued in this country! This is market. It always happens that in a poorly developed country, the cost of the national currency is always overvalued. But the dollar in any country costs as much as it buys the local currency. The rest is just theory. In fact, if I were the chairman of the National Bank today, I would go for a certain devaluation of the national currency to prevent the loss-making operation of the country's light indusrty”.
Our BigMac is more expensive than the one in Ukraine ($1.71) and in Egypt ($1.6). Belarusians spend the same money as Ruussian to buy this burger. The most expensive BigMacs are in New Zealand ($5.89). The cheapest one is in China ($1.45), according to The Economist.
http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9433804
