Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation: Conditions are not ripe for a single currency with Belarus
So far, Russia and Belarus are not faced with the issue of creating a single currency, although rapprochement in the financial sector is taking place.
Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Alexey Overchuk stated this in an interview with Izvestia, answering a corresponding question.
“There is a movement in the financial sector with Belarus. In the Union State format, 28 programs have been agreed upon, seven of which fall within the competence of the Bank of Russia and the National Bank of Belarus. So there is a rapprochement on financial issues. But we also need to look at the EAEU space. The Russian ruble is strengthening in trade between Russia and the EAEU countries. For example, its share in the structure of payments increased from 61,8% in 2013 to almost 72,5% in 2019. In the pandemic year of 2020, it was 72,6%,” Overchuk said.
At the same time, he clarified that the EAEU countries still prefer to use dollars and euros among themselves, although reality leads everyone to understand the importance of increasing mutual settlements in national currencies.
The Deputy Prime Minister added that conditions must appear for the creation of a single Russian-Belarusian currency.
“The national currency continues to be perceived as one of the attributes of sovereignty. For the transition to a common currency, the appropriate conditions must obviously be ripe, that is, economic ties between our countries must develop to such an extent that the need for constant costs for converting and servicing foreign exchange transactions will begin to be seen as a significant barrier to the further joint development of our economies.
When all EAEU member states agree that it is more convenient to make payments in a common currency, then it will be possible to talk about this more substantively. At this stage, it is really more important for us to focus on the development of a common payment space within the Eurasian Economic Union,” Overchuk concluded.
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