According to an official press release of 19 December 2014, the National Bank of Belarus introduced a temporary 30% fee on the purchase of foreign currency by legal and natural persons. The stated official reason is the increased demand for foreign currency on the domestic currency exchange market.
 
According to the press release, ''e'nterprises and banks will pay this fee when purchasing foreign exchange at the stock exchange; natural persons - in the form of commission when purchasing foreign exchange at banks'.
 
On 20 December with Presidential Decree Nr. 607 was introduced till 1 February 2015 the above-mentioned obligation with respect to banks (see the related measure).
 
On 29 December, the fee was reduced to 20 percent (see related measure).