Dollar deposits at 5%: is it worth converting your som

In early September 2026, the dollar exchange rate in Kyrgyzstan holds around 87.45 som, and some depositors instinctively wonder whether they should convert their savings into currency. At first glance the logic seems simple — the dollar has historically been considered a more stable asset. But comparing net returns tells a less clear-cut story.

Comparing deposit rates

• Som deposit: 10–17% per year depending on the bank and term
• US dollar deposit: 3–5% per year
• Euro deposit: usually 0.5–1 percentage points lower than dollar rates
• Russian ruble deposit: less common, rates of 6–9% per year

The gap between a som deposit and a dollar deposit is 10–12 percentage points — that's a lot. For a currency deposit to come out ahead, the dollar rate would need to rise by at least that much over the year, and that doesn't happen every year.

When a currency deposit actually makes sense

Converting som savings into dollars makes sense in a few specific cases: if you're saving toward a goal already denominated in currency (for example, paying for a child's education abroad or buying a car imported from overseas), if you already have income in foreign currency (transfers from relatives abroad, freelancing for foreign companies), or if you're deliberately diversifying your savings and are willing to sacrifice yield to reduce currency risk.

But if the goal is simply saving for an apartment, education at a Kyrgyz university, or a som-denominated emergency fund, converting to dollars is almost always a losing move: you give up 10+ percentage points of return to hedge against currency risk that isn't guaranteed to materialize over the long run.

How to calculate the real benefit

Example: 500,000 som in a deposit at 16% per year becomes 580,000 som after a year. The same 500,000 som converted to dollars at a rate of 87.45 (about 5,720 dollars), placed in a deposit at 4% per year, would give 5,949 dollars. For that result to beat 580,000 som when converted back, the dollar rate at the deposit's maturity would need to be above roughly 97.5 som — meaning the dollar would need to gain more than 11% over the year. The NBKR's policy, 5.8% inflation and 8.1% economic growth currently give no clear signals of such a sharp devaluation of the som.

A middle-ground option

Some depositors choose a multi-currency deposit or a combination: keeping the bulk of their savings in som at a high rate, and a smaller share (10–20% of savings) in dollars as insurance against a sudden rate jump. This approach doesn't maximize returns but reduces the risk of depending entirely on one currency.

Before deciding, it's worth comparing current rates on som and currency deposits across banks on FinMarketKG — sometimes the gap between banks within the same currency reaches 2–3 percentage points, and that matters too when choosing.