Ukrainians Depositing Last Rubles in Banks : Currency: A government guarantee of equivalent exchanges for cash deposits is causing a run on banks.

There’s a run on the banks in Ukraine these days. But in the topsy-turvy, post-Soviet world of Ukrainian independence, that doesn’t mean savers here are withdrawing every last penny.

Instead, Ukrainians suddenly are trying to deposit all the cash they used to stuff in mattresses, pillow cases and cookie jars--anywhere, that is, except the bank.

The rush to deposit the money does not reflect a sudden burst of confidence in the banks.

It represents the plummeting trust in the ruble since Jan. 10, when the Ukrainian government introduced coupons as the sole legal tender in the state shops that sell the bulk of food and manufactured goods.

“Rubles aren’t going to be worth anything soon,” said Halyna, an engineer who was No. 17 in a line of 40 people waiting for Branch 5441/08 of the Soviet Savings Bank to end its lunch break Friday.

What savvy Ukrainians are banking on is a pledge President Leonid Kravchuk made in a televised address last week, when he announced that Ukraine would eliminate all ruble transactions by February. As for what to do with the rubles, he told viewers: “Put them in savings accounts. The state will guarantee equivalent exchanges for honestly earned money in accounts.”

While none of the customers waiting in line at Branch 5441/08 were sure exactly what they eventually will get in exchange for the rubles they were depositing, they were eager to heed Kravchuk’s warning: “The government cannot be responsible for money that is hidden, not in accounts.”

Government officials say that in just the four days after the speech, 2.5 billion rubles were deposited in the banks, compared with 1.8 billion over the previous two weeks.

The overworked and overwhelmed teller inside Branch 5441/08 did not know how many more people than usual had shown up at her window in the last week.

“Many more,” she said with a tired sigh. “Many, many more.”

Oleh, a student who was depositing rubles for his mother--”nearly everything she has”--explained why he had raced to the bank. “This way we will at least get something for this paper,” said Oleh, who, like others interviewed, declined to give his last name.

Besides making deposits to protect the value of their savings, Ukrainians on Friday also headed to banks seeking to make the most of the current currency uncertainty by paying their rents--in rubles--for the next year or two.

The theory here: It’s best to pay one’s rent now in potentially worthless rubles so as to keep those valuable Ukrainian coupons to buy food.

Halyna--a 50-year-old engineer who receives a monthly salary of 650 rubles and is entitled to an allotment of 300 coupons--explained that she had paid 555 rubles to cover her rent for the year. “I am paying for my apartment while I can still do it in rubles,” she said. “That way, when even rents have to be paid in coupons, I can use mine for food.”

When the government here issued the coupons, they were supposed to be used, with rubles, to protect local markets from raids by affluent shoppers from other former Soviet republics until the new Ukrainian currency could be introduced this summer.

But in a short time, coupons have replaced rubles; Ukrainian officials have blamed that situation, in part, on the Russian-controlled mint in Moscow, which they claim has failed to provide Ukraine with enough ruble notes to cover the salary raises that came in the wake of price liberalization on Jan. 2.

At the official exchange rate of 10 cents to the coupon, a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of quality sausage costs $32 dollars for a tourist. For Ukrainians, it costs their entire monthly coupon allowance.

Saying Goodby to the Ruble

Ukraine will eliminate all ruble transactions by February. The nation should introduce its new currency, hrivnas, this summer.

As a transition to its new currency, the Ukrainian government issued coupons that were to be used with rubles. But the coupons have replaced the rubles because the Russian-controlled mint in Moscow has been unable to provide Ukraine with enough bank notes.