A Russian Farmer Sows His Own Currency to Aid Rural Population
Russia's ruble has been on a roller-coaster ride, facing the second biggest drop in value of global currencies in 2014, then bouncing back this year with the highest rise against the dollar, euro, pound and yen. Even tech giant Apple took time off from online sales in Russia due to “extreme” ruble fluctuations in December, when the currency tumbled 19% in a day due to a sell-off by nervous investors in Moscow. The recent stabilization of the ruble at about 50 to the dollar has drained not only the country's currency reserves, but also the sentiment of Russian consumers and businesses:....
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Earlier this month a regional court in Moscow ruled that farmer Mikhail Shlyapnikov could not print or use his own currency. Shlyapnikov plans to appeal the ruling. The farmer introduced his own type of exchange unit, kolions, to insulate his village from economic turmoil. The currency name comes from his village, Kolionovo, and was pegged to the potato, with one kolion equaling 10 kilograms of potatoes which could be exchanged for labor or other food. Shlyapnikov, who was formerly a Moscow business man, left the business world for farming 10 years ago. He doesn't call kolions money.....
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