Following a trend seen in much of the rest of the world, some Macedonians are selling euros and buying US dollars and Swiss francs while many have switched investments to Macedonia's own currency, the Denar.
As worries over the future of the single Euro currency grow, more and more people are seeking advice from banks and heading to exchange offices, bank employees say.
“In the last few days our clients are more nervous than usual, asking us what to do, and whether to keep their euros or sell them,” a staffer in NLB Tutunska Banka, one of the biggest banks in Macedonia, told MINA.
The same source said there was no panic but some clients have already swapped savings to US dollar and Swiss franc accounts, even though the interest rates on them were significantly lower than for savings in euros.
To calm fears, the head of the National Bank of Macedonia, NBM, Dimitar Bogov, insisted that people’s savings were secure in spite of the euro uncertainty. “There is no place for fear,” Bogov said.
Macedonia’s denar is directly tied to the euro, which some see as worrying if the euro crumbles.
Bank chiefs reassured Macedonians that "even if the euro collapses, we will immediately tie our national currency to the [reborn] Deutschmark as the most stable [currency]".
According to current exchange rates, Bogov said one euro would be worth 1.96 Deutschmarks, identical with the exchange rate in 2002, when the euro was first introduced.
