From: pruss@helix.nih.gov (dmitry pruss)
Subject: Russia, foreign currency vs. ruble prices.
Organization: National Institutes of Health, Bethesda
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1992 17:55:06 GMT

Hi all,
a while ago I saw a request from cday@terrapin.....???

It's just one of a series of letters expressing some confusion on what do
we Russians call *hard currency* and what is its buying ability if compared
with rubles.

I think hard currency is almost synonimous to $.
Though some Western currencies fit to this category almost as well (DM!)
In the latest time, a growing number of retailers offer their stuff for
hard currency only. It often looks like a scam in order to pipe more money
from inexperenced foreigners' vallets.

FYI, quite a few figures follow:

(the following passage is quoted from my ad *Apt for rent in Moscow*): 

The fares are ridiculously 
low: any city transportation is less than a penny, train or 
dolmus may cost as much as a nickel. 
The shops used to be almost empty a while back. It's 
absolutely not the case any more. Food is very expensive for 
plain Muscovites yet it seems dirt cheap if converted to $$ (a 
dollar would buy 4 gallons of milk or 2 lbs of the best beef). 
Other domestically produced goods are much cheaper than their 
Western kin, too.

A few quotes from letters from Moscow, to confirm the prices 
_and_ the difference between domestic/imports/foreigner-only 
goods:

Date: Mon, 21 Dec 92 00:16:14 +0300 (MSK)

cENY U NAS TEPERX TOVE STALI RAZLI^ATXSQ NA ODIN I TOT VE TOWAR. hOTQ,
KONE^NO, NE W TAKOJ STEPENI, KAK U WAS. hOTQ, ESLI WKL@^ATX W [KALU
CENY W WAL@TKAH, TO RAZBROS E]E BOLX[E.
 ^^[translating in brief] the same merchandise may be priced 
     differetly... it's certainly so if one consider 
     hard-currency shop's prices:
nAPRIMER, RUBLEWYE CENY NA MQSO
 ^^say, ruble prices for meat are
OT 200 DO 1000 RUB/KG (MAGAZIN/RYNOK). |TO ZNA^IT OT 17 DO 80 CENTOW
  ^^200-1000 rb/kg (grocery -> farmers market), i.e. c17-80/lb
ZA FUNT. a W WAL@TKE MQSO STOIT $6 ZA FUNT.
  ^^but in a hard-currency shop, it costs $6/lb

Date:         Thu, 26 Nov 92 11:40:14 MSK
1$=450r. S December 1 proezd v metro 3 r. Moloko 1l=20r.
                     ^^^^^^^^^fare        ^^^^^^milk  
Smetana,sosiski=230-240r. Tvorog 1kg=200-240r.
^^Sour cream^^franks (kg)  ^^^^cottage cheese
Kartoshka na rynke uzhe za 35 r.      Seledka=140-160r.
^^^^potaters at a farmers' market,kg  ^^^^herring (all in kgs)

Date: Thu, 22 Oct 92 12:18:29 +0300 (MSK)
We got another step of inflation here. 
Liter of milk - >20 rb
10 eggs       - >55 rb
cheap sausage - >250 rb/kg
ham           -  500-1,000 rb/kg
sugar         -  150 rb/kg

A couch & two armchairs - something about 100,000 rb

US$ 1 = 300 rb

Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 17:02:07 +0300 (MSK)
Kiwis in the "commercial shops" in the streets are 150 Rb for one.
In Irish house they are ~$2 for a kg. Coconuts in Irish house are
   ^^^^^^^^^^^(a large hard-currency shop) 
$3-4 /kg. Kiwis are from NZ..., while "average" salary may be
about 12,000 rb/mo, or much less in research institutes. 

>nice large persimonn lately,
Plenty of them here, and rather cheap. (100 rb/kg)

Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 12:19:00 +0300 (MSK)
bananas are 350 rb/kg - c88, while in Irish house they
are $2 /kg.

BTW, there are fixes in the price list ;-)

meat  600-1000 rb/kg
curds  400-500  rb/kg
soured cream 800      rb/kg

That were yesterday's market prices. I changed $$ at rate 405 rb/$.

>Where're Georgian citruses?
In Georgia, I beleive. If they are still not burned.

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Sorry for taking some bandwidth, I hope the question is less obscure now...

	D