According to the new decision of the National Bank of Serbia on the conditions and manner of performing exchange operations, the commission of exchange offices for the selling rate of foreign currencies is limited to one percent, so that exchange offices can no longer charge unlimited commission for selling euros and other foreign money.
This decision came after the problems that arose in the functioning of exchange offices due to the greater interest of citizens in buying foreign currencies. There were reports that the euro was sold at a significantly higher exchange rate than prescribed and that it was not in sufficient quantities.
The situation was especially dramatic in smaller places in Serbia, but as Borislav Brujić from the Association of Exchange Offices told Biznis.rs, people relaxed after two or three days and now there is much less pressure on exchange offices.
“The ratio of buying and selling euros is now in balance, so I expect complete normalization,” said Brujic, noting that exchange offices work by selling all dinars they buy immediately, which in his opinion is the best system that guarantees that there is always enough money in circulation.
He welcomes the decision of the NBS to limit the commission for the selling rate of foreign currencies, because in that way the shaken trust of the citizens in the work of exchange offices will be restored.
The central bank states that exchange offices from banks can buy foreign cash in unlimited amounts.
The NBS Decision, published in the Official Gazette, also states that at the beginning of working hours, the exchange office must point out in a visible place, in the same way as the exchange rate list, that it charges a commission of up to one percent. The NBS must not change that notice during working hours, the NBS prescribed.
As it was announced, the decision will be applied from Friday, March 11.
According to the new calculation, the exchange rate of the euro is formed in the exchange offices so that deviations from the middle exchange rate are allowed by a maximum of 1.25 percent up and down, and a commission of one percent can be added to that.
The official middle exchange rate of the National Bank of Serbia for March 11 is 117.6470 dinars. When 1.25 percent is added to that, which is the maximum selling rate, and the sum of another percent of the commission, we come to the maximum 120.31 dinars, which is how much a citizen can cost a euro in exchange offices.
When buying, when 1.25 percent is deducted from the middle exchange rate, and the obtained result is reduced by another percent of the commission, we get a minimum of 115.01 dinars for how much citizens can sell euros in exchange offices.
The decision of the central bank came after the NBS controlled several exchange offices due to allegations that they were selling the euro at a higher exchange rate than allowed, Biznis reports.
