66. Rubles and kopeks
I think it's common knowledge that the primary unit of Russian currency is the ruble. It's easy to feel rich in Russia based on how big the price numbers are, because one ruble is worth so little relative to the main unit of many other familiar currencies (I've used USD, EUR, & GBP most often in the past). As of July 2017, one US dollar is worth approximately 60 rubles, which means that one ruble is worth approximately 1.7 cents. Most purchases are measured in the hundreds or thousands of rubles, and for larger purchases (such as my rent each month) then one can expect to spend tens of thousands of rubles.
You may have also heard the word "kopek" before. One ruble corresponds to 100 kopeks, so with one kopek worth approximately 0.017 cents, it has absolutely no purchasing power anymore. I don't know whether kopeks have been officially retired all over the country, but here in St. Petersburg there are no kopeks in general circulation and prices are rounded to the nearest ruble (or more generally, to the nearest 5 or 10 rubles, and at restaurants, often to the nearest 100 rubles). The Russian government stopped minting kopek coins several years ago, and I was here for three months before I even saw one.
I don't follow the currency exchange rate between the US dollar and Russian ruble because it's not especially relevant to my life in St. Petersburg. I am paid in rubles for my work here, and spend those rubles on all my purchases (food and drink, monthly rent for my apartment, and sightseeing are just about my only in-country expenses at the moment). So my buying power remains constant (ignoring inflation) regardless of what's happening with the exchange rate.
Many people like to collect money from different countries during their travels. I stopped doing this a few years ago when my rate of international travel exceeded my interest in creating a large currency collection, but I'm still always interested to see what money looks like around the world (especially, paper money). Coinage here consists primarily of 5 and 10 ruble coins, although I sometimes see one and two ruble coins as well. Paper currency includes 50, 100, 500, 1,000, and 5,000 ruble bills. Typically, I receive only the 1,000 and 5,000 notes from the ATM ("bankomat" as they are known locally), and might additionally receive the 100 ruble note as change from a purchase. The Russian government may soon release 200 and 2,000 ruble notes, but they're not in circulation yet as far as I've seen.
You may have also heard the word "kopek" before. One ruble corresponds to 100 kopeks, so with one kopek worth approximately 0.017 cents, it has absolutely no purchasing power anymore. I don't know whether kopeks have been officially retired all over the country, but here in St. Petersburg there are no kopeks in general circulation and prices are rounded to the nearest ruble (or more generally, to the nearest 5 or 10 rubles, and at restaurants, often to the nearest 100 rubles). The Russian government stopped minting kopek coins several years ago, and I was here for three months before I even saw one.
I don't follow the currency exchange rate between the US dollar and Russian ruble because it's not especially relevant to my life in St. Petersburg. I am paid in rubles for my work here, and spend those rubles on all my purchases (food and drink, monthly rent for my apartment, and sightseeing are just about my only in-country expenses at the moment). So my buying power remains constant (ignoring inflation) regardless of what's happening with the exchange rate.
Many people like to collect money from different countries during their travels. I stopped doing this a few years ago when my rate of international travel exceeded my interest in creating a large currency collection, but I'm still always interested to see what money looks like around the world (especially, paper money). Coinage here consists primarily of 5 and 10 ruble coins, although I sometimes see one and two ruble coins as well. Paper currency includes 50, 100, 500, 1,000, and 5,000 ruble bills. Typically, I receive only the 1,000 and 5,000 notes from the ATM ("bankomat" as they are known locally), and might additionally receive the 100 ruble note as change from a purchase. The Russian government may soon release 200 and 2,000 ruble notes, but they're not in circulation yet as far as I've seen.
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