Alexander Konstantinovich Korovushkin
Александр Константинович Коровушкин
1909–1976
○ Natural causes
The Gosbank chairman who executed the 1961 redenomination and threw his hat at Khrushchev
When Khrushchev cursed him out, Korovushkin calmly took off his hat, spat on the ground, and threw it at the First Secretary's shoulder.
Born to a peasant family in Vologda Governorate, he worked as a bookkeeper and village soviet chairman before graduating from the Leningrad Financial-Economic Institute and entering Soviet banking. At Gosbank from 1940, he rose to Deputy Minister of Finance in 1953 and Chairman of the State Bank in 1958, where he reorganized the banking system in 1959 and carried out the 1961 monetary reform, a 10:1 redenomination of the ruble. In 1963, after a heated personal clash with Khrushchev over an unauthorized proposal for emergency currency emission, he was removed, but continued working in RSFSR finance until his death.
Career Timeline
- 1923–1936Bookkeeper, club manager, village soviet chairman, then graduates Leningrad Financial-Economic Institute
- 1936–1940Manager at Leningrad Municipal Bank, then head of Leningrad City Finance Department
- 1940–1953Heads various Gosbank central directorates, editor of Money and Credit, board member and Deputy Chairman
- 1950–1955Chairman of the Board, Bank for Foreign Trade (Vneshtorgbank)
- 1953–1958Deputy Minister of Finance, USSR
- 1958–1963Gosbank Chairman — 1959 banking reorganization, 1961 10:1 monetary reform
- 1963–1976RSFSR Finance Ministry: State Revenues, then Industrial Financing Administration head and collegium member
The 1961 Monetary Reform
The defining undertaking of Korovushkin's Gosbank chairmanship was the 1961 monetary reform. On 4 May 1960, the USSR Council of Ministers adopted Resolution No. 470 providing for a 10:1 redenomination, and Nikita Khrushchev formally announced the measure at the Supreme Soviet the following day. Finance Minister Arseny Zverev, who opposed the reform, resigned immediately after the resolution was passed; his successor Vasily Garbuzov and Korovushkin then took charge of implementation.
Beginning 1 January 1961, old banknotes were exchanged for new ones at 10:1 over three months, with wages, pensions, savings, and state prices recalculated at the same ratio. The new notes, dramatically smaller in size, earned the popular nickname 'Khrushchev's candy wrappers.' Crucially, however, the official exchange rate was adjusted not by a factor of 10 but by 4.44 (to 90 kopecks per US dollar), amounting to a hidden devaluation of the ruble's external value. After the exchange was completed, Korovushkin and Garbuzov proposed to the Central Committee that the measures be officially termed 'the monetary reform of 1961'; the Central Committee rejected the proposal, insisting on the bland formula 'measures for changing the scale of prices and exchanging old money.'
Post-reform assessments by the Ministry of Finance and Gosplan found the new ruble overvalued by a factor of roughly 2.25 against foreign currencies, and market prices did not follow the official 10:1 conversion, producing real inflationary pressure. Nevertheless, the decimal-based currency system simplified accounting and circulation, the smaller notes and new coins lowered production costs, and the reform enabled the spread of vending machines and other modern retail technologies.