Introduction of a single currency should be the final stage of integration, not the initial one

At the press conference which was held in the National Press Centre of Belarus with the participation of west-european journalists V.Amarin, Deputy Minister of Finance said that during the meetings dedicated to the issuance of a stabilization credit by Russia, Belarus and the Russian Federation discussed the synchronization of an exchange rate policy.

At the press conference which was held in the National Press Centre of Belarus with the participation of west-european journalists V.Amarin, Deputy Minister of Finance said that during the meetings dedicated to the issuance of a stabilization credit by Russia, Belarus and the Russian Federation discussed the synchronization of an exchange rate policy.

“There is a plan of activities aimed at introduction of a single currency and the plan’s progress is being examined as well,” he said and noted that one can’t say it for sure whether single currency will be introduced or not.

V.Amarin reminded that Russia is a key trade and economic partner of Belarus that we maintain close relations with within the framework of bilateral agreements.

In his turn, V.Misyukovets, Head of the Department of foreign economy relations finance and the external debt of Belarusian Ministry of Finance, informed that initially they planned to introduce a supranational currency. “The approaches that have been worked out within the implementation plan convinced us that the introduction of a single currency should be the final stage of integration, not the initial one,” he believes.

Besides that, taking into account the progressive process of forming a Customs Union among Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan, in the future we can consider a single currency for these three countries.

At the same time he noted that the situation when Belarus and Russia settle their accounts mainly in US dollars the latter having liquidity problems is not a safe one. In this connection the intention to extend the usage of the Russian ruble for bilateral settling is quite a logical one. What is more, no additional agreements are needed – all comes to the level of intergovernmental negotiations.