Exchange offices run out of euros while the rate stands still

At the counter: "I could sell a million, but I have none"

A Kurir team visited exchange offices and banks in New Belgrade on Saturday. The owner of a larger exchange office, who asked not to be named, said that officially everything is calm, but in practice there are no euros: he could sell a million today if he had them. A clerk at an exchange office on Maršala Tolbuhina Street said she usually sells 100 or 200 euros, and 500 at most per customer.

Where euros are available, the price has not moved far from the official one. Exchange offices bought at 118 and sold at 119 dinars, while the middle rate published by the NBS on Friday, which also applies over the weekend, is 117.6089 dinars. There were no queues at the banks Kurir visited.

Shortage or fear

Dušan Uzelac, editor of the Kamatica portal, told Tanjug that there is no shortage of foreign currency, only a sudden jump in demand. The problem, he says, is cash, which has to be physically delivered, and smaller exchange offices that cannot get it quickly. He compares it to a shop that sells a ton of apples a week and is suddenly asked for ten.

Uzelac points out that people buying at exchange office counters are a small part of the currency market. Much bigger buyers are companies and public enterprises, including energy importers ahead of winter. If the situation were really serious, he says, the middle rate would be moving far more than it is. He adds that the case of ALTA banka, which had about three percent of the market, does not threaten the stability of the banking system.

Borislav Brujić of the exchange office association earlier told Kurir that the story about a 250-euro limit per customer is not true as a rule; a smaller office sometimes just lacks enough cash for a larger amount. Exchange offices may deviate by at most 1.25 percent from the middle rate, which by his estimate gives a range of roughly 116 to 119 dinars. On Saturday he said the situation was much better than four or five days earlier.

The office of Governor Jorgovanka Tabaković told Kurir that the financial system is functioning stably and that the exchange rate is maintained with foreign currency reserves that are high by all criteria.

What it means for you

If you need euros for a specific expense, Uzelac advises waiting five or six days, as such waves calm down quickly. Buying foreign currency today only to convert it back to dinars in a month means losing on the difference between the buying and selling rate. If you really have to buy, you can also do it in your bank's mobile app, where you do not depend on how much cash the local exchange office has.

For savings, he says, what matters is what the money is for and when you need it. If you need it in six months, converting now only costs you on the exchange, while money you will not need for longer than that is worth putting into a term deposit where the interest is best.

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