Belarus and Turkmenistan devalue: With the rouble continuing to plunge, both Belarus and Turkmenistan have been forced to devalue their currencies. On New Year’s Day, Turkmenistan devalued its manat to 3.5 to the US dollar, a drop of about 19%, and was followed five days later by Belarus, whose Central Bank announced a 7% devaluation. Over half of Belarus’s exports – mainly trucks, tractors and industrial machinery – go to Russia, and its President Alexander Lukashenko last month demanded that all transactions with Russia be carried out in dollars or euros. Meanwhile, largely thanks to the country’s oil and gas revenues, Azerbaijan’s manat actually ended the year 0.01% higher against the dollar than it started it. The Moscow Times, News.AZ