uslovnye edinitsy

[Tom Priestly]

A former student of ours, now working in Moscow, send us newsletters. The
latest included this para:
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At the beginning of the crisis, the exchange rate was fluctuating so much
that it was a real gamble to exchange money, especially large amounts.  So
when I bought my plane ticket to Hungary in September, I really had to
watch the rates daily and how much they were at various exchange points.
This fluctuation was a problem for buying products as well.  Initially,
some storekeepers decided to cash in on the rates and tripled the price tag
of many goods that were paid for before the crisis, thereby making a profit
of 300%.  Soon, the government had to form special task forces to keep an
eye on such activities.  It truly was chaos in the first few weeks! I
stopped buying all but essential things because I never knew whether the
price was authentic or inflated.  Things have normalised since then. In
some ways, foreigners are profitting from this crisis because the cost of
entertainment has not increased with the ruble devaluation.  For example,
ballet tickets to my favourite little theatre (not the Bolshoi) were about
$5 before the crisis, now there are $2.50.  Initially, restaurant prices
were also cheaper, because they couldn't keep up with the rate of
devaluation.  Now, however, most restaurants show their menu prices in
"conditional units."  No where else in the world do "conditional units"
exist but in Russia.  Basically, this means the unit at which the ruble is
converted into hard currency.  And what is considered "hard currency" in
Russia?  Well, the American dollar, of course.  In other words, it is
illegal to show prices in dollars, so they are shown in "C.U."
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Tom Priestly,
University of Alberta