Russian citizens are buying up new banknotes. ₽200 and ₽2,000 bills have been introduced in October, but so far only in Crimea, the Far East and Moscow. In almost no time, it led to a frenzy. ₽200 bills are now sold for 150 rubles more than their face value, and the margin on ₽2,000 bills is even bigger — 500 rubles. The Central Bank is surprised, since the notes have no value as collectibles.
So why this surge of interest? Let's hear from Darya Kozlova.
The markup is 25% across all sellers, regardless of the face value or the city of sale. Some of them, however, are open for bargaining.
- "How much do you ask for ₽200 and ₽2,000?"
- "It's 2,500 and 250 but we can make a deal. It's not the final price".
There are hundreds of ads like this online. Bills are sold in wads.
They are not collectible or commemorative. They are simply new and still rare. ₽200 and ₽2,000 bills have only been introduced in October, and the first ones to get them were Moscow, Crimea and the Far East. The Central Bank urges Russians to stop wasting money on buying money and wait until these banknotes appear in all regions of the country.
Oleg Karepov, Far Eastern Main Branch of Central Bank: "Gradually, as cash registers and bank equipment get updated, these bills will make it into wide circulation. In December, we expect them to be issued in every region of our huge country. Which means that shortly afterward, they will be just as commonplace as the rest of the banknotes".
Collectors, however, point out one detail. It's not about the number or the face value, but about the series. Among the notaphilists, bills from the first batches can be worth several times their face value.
Aleksandr Baranov, Chair of Union of Notaphilists: "Usually, it's capital letters AA. Gradually, as the years go by, these bills become more and more expensive. And talking about these newly issued ₽200 bills, as soon as they made it to the collectibles market, their price was set at 300-350 rubles. In 150-200 years, these banknotes that we have today with a face value of ₽200 and ₽2,000 will definitely cost much more. How much exactly? We'll have to wait and see".
Most Russians, however, are not going to wait for 100 years to sell the bills. Financial experts also don't see the point in buying the banknotes. As an instrument of making a profit or investing, they don't make any sense. They can only stay in a private collection, unlike silver and golden coins that you can actually use to make a profit.
Aleksey Tarapovskiy, Independent Financial Adviser: "If we're talking about these bills one day becoming highly sought-after and expensive, at least more expensive than their current price, it can indeed happen, but it's in no way certain. So, to be honest, if I were a prudent investor, I wouldn't engage in this silliness. And if someone wishes to buy coins in order to collect them or sell later, they should do it using existing civilized methods, like buying them at the bank".
The only people who can profit from this are online sellers, and only in the course of the next several weeks. But there's a question of where they get new banknotes in this amount. It seems that some bank employees don't give newly issued bills to regular visitors, saving them for their accomplices and thus creating an artificial shortage.
Darya Kozlova, Yaroslava Butonova, Evgeniy Kirillenko. Vesti.
