Currency Reform and the End of Rationing

Council of Ministers of the US S.R. and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Currency Reform and the End of Rationing. December 14, 1947

The Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union resolve:

  1. Monetary Reform

  2. New currency in rubles of 1947 to be issued as of December 16, 1947.

  3. All cash money in the hands of the population, and of state, cooperative and public establishments, organizations and institutions, as well as of collective farms, is to be exchanged, with the exception of small change.

Small change is not subject to exchange, and remains in circulation at its face value.

  1. Exchange of old currency for the currency of 1947 issue is to be entrusted to the State Bank of the USSR.

The exchange of currency throughout the entire territory of the USSR is to be effected within one week, that is, from December 16 to December 22, inclusive; and in remote areas, within two weeks, that is, from December 16 to December 29, inclusive, in accordance with the list approved by the Council of Ministers of the USSR

  1. Exchange of cash money now in circulation for the new currency is to be effected at the rate of 10 rubles in old currency for one ruble in the currency of 1947 issue.

  2. From the day of issuance of the currency of 1947 issue to expiration of the time limit for exchange, old currency is to be accepted for all payments at the rate of one tenth of its nominal value.

Old currency not presented for exchange within the prescribed time will be annulled and will lose its purchasing power.

  1. Payments to individual citizens on domestic remittances, letters of credit and depositors' accounts on which money was received by state institutions prior to issuance of the currency of 1947 issue are to be effected at the rate of 10 rubles in old currency for one ruble in currency of 1947 issue.

  2. The wages of industrial and office workers for the first half of December, 1947, the pay of military men, scholarships, pensions and allowances for December, 1947, are to be paid in 1947 currency on December 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20, 1947, throughout the entire territory of the USSR, regardless of the established dates for payment of wages.

  3. Simultaneously with issuance of the currency of 1947 issue, deposits and current accounts of the population in savings banks and the State Bank of the USSR are to be revaluated as of the day of issuance of the currency of 1947 issue on the following basis:

(a) Deposits not exceeding three thousand rubles remain unchanged at their face value, that is, are revaluated at the rate of ruble for ruble.

(b) Deposits not exceeding 10 thousand rubles are to be revaluated as follows: the first three thousand at face value, and the remainder at the rate of two rubles in the new currency for three rubles of the old currency.

(c) Deposits exceeding 10 thousand rubles are to be revaluated as follows: the first 10 thousand as stipulated in Paragraph

(b) above, and the remainder at the rate of one ruble in new currency for two rubles in old.

On December 15, 16 and 17 savings banks and cash offices of the State Bank of the USSR will not accept or make payments on deposits; beginning with December 18, these operations will be conducted as usual.

  1. Money on clearing and current accounts of cooperative establishments and organizations as well as collective farms is to be revaluated at the rate of four rubles in new currency for five rubles in old currency.

  2. Simultaneously with monetary reform, all state loans previously floated and savings bank certificates for special deposits are to be converted on the following basis:

(a) Bonds of the state loan of the Second Five-Year Plan (fourth year issue); the loan for consolidation of the defense of the US S. R.; all issues of the loan of the Third Five-Year Plan; issues of war loans; the loan, for rehabilitation and development of the national economy; as well as bonds issued to cooperative organizations on loans and savings banks certificates are to be exchanged for bonds of a conversion loan that is to be issued in 1948 at a two per cent rate of interest. Bonds of the new conversion loan are to be exchanged for bonds of the previous loans at the rate of one ruble in bonds of the conversion loan for three rubles in bonds of previous loans.

The exchange of bonds of previous loans and savings bank certificates will be effected between May 3 and August 1, 1948.

(b) The second state loan for the rehabilitation and development of the national economy of the USSR issued in 1947 is not subject to conversion. Subscribers to this loan will continue covering their subscription as heretofore, and when the sum of their subscription is fully paid, they will receive bonds of this loan at their face value to the whole amount paid.

(c) Bonds of the state lottery loan of 1938 are to be exchanged for bonds of the new freely- negotiable three per cent state internal lottery loan issued on December 13 this year; the exchange of bonds of the 1938 loan will be effected within the time fixed for the exchange of currency at the rate of five rubles in 1938 bonds to one ruble in bonds of the three per cent internal lottery loan. In the course of this period the savings banks will purchase bonds of the 1938 loan for cash at the same rate.

  1. Regular drawings on loans and payments of maturing coupons of bonds for loans to be converted are to be postponed as from the day of announcement of the conversion of state loans until August 1, 1948. Regular drawings and payments will be resumed from August, 1948, including those for the preceding period.

  2. Tax rates, debt and contract obligations between establishments, institutions and organizations, obligations regarding payments of the population to the State as well as treaty obligations between the USSR and foreign states remain unchanged.

II. Abolition of Rationing System of Supply

  1. Simultaneously with the monetary reform, that is, as of December 16, 1947, the rationing system of supply of foodstuffs and manufactured goods and the high prices in commercial trade are to be abolished, and uniform reduced state retail prices for foodstuffs and manufactured goods introduced.

  2. The following is to be taken as the basis in establishing uniform retail state prices for foodstuffs and manufactured goods:

(a) Prices for bread and flour are to be reduced on an average by 12 per cent, as against the present ration prices;

(b) Prices for cereals and macaroni are to be reduced on an average by 10 per cent as against present ration prices;

(c) Prices for meat, fish, fats, sugar, confectionary, salt, potatoes and vegetables are to be preserved at the level of the present ration prices;

(d) For milk, eggs, tea and fruit, the present high commercial prices and excessively low ration prices are to be abolished and replaced by new prices conforming to the level of present ration prices for staple foodstuffs;

(e) The present high commercial prices of fabrics, footwear, clothing and knitted goods, as well as the excessively low prices for rationed supply introduced in towns and workers' settlements are to be abolished and new prices established at a level 3.2 times lower than the commercial prices;

(f) Prices for tobacco products and matches are to be preserved at the level of present ration prices;

(g) Prices for beer are to be reduced on an average by 10 per cent in comparison with present prices;

(h) The present prices for vodka and wine are to be preserved.

The Ministry of Trade of the USSR is to establish in accordance with the present decision new reduced state retail prices for foodstuffs for various zones, as well as new state retail prices for manufactured goods for town and countryside.

IV

Prices established by the present decision are not to extend to the collective farm market nor to cooperative trade in commodities purchased by the cooperatives themselves.

J. Stalin
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR

A. Zhdanov
Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Source: U.S.S.R. Information Bulletin, Vol. VII, No. 21 (24 December 1947) pp. 2-4.

1947

Cars for Comrades Cold War Cominform and the Soviet Bloc Eight-Hundred Years of Moscow End of Rationing Estonia Sings Famine of 1946-1947 The New Curriculum Lysenkoism in Biology Ukraine after the War Veterans Return Xenophobia Year of Laktionov Zhdanov