Financial cooperation among CIS countries is a byproduct of trade and mutual investments that are important for many countries. For instance, the economic success of Georgia is to a large extent due to investments made by major Georgian entrepreneurs residing in Russia and by banks in Kazakhstan.
The global crisis has increased the risk of conducting settlement in third-country currencies, be it the dollar or the euro. To be sure, the transition to a single settlement currency has so far been impractical for technical and political reasons, but for the sake of convenience alone, this should be pursued.
The first phase would involve regular exchange trading. It should be conducted primarily in Moscow given its developed financial infrastructure and intense economic relations. Initially, the traded currency pairs should include the Russian ruble, the Ukranian hryvnia, the Kazakh tenge and the Belarusian ruble. The volume of trading with other countries has so far been inadequate for these purposes. If we successfully transition to conducting trade operations within the CIS in the currencies of the participating countries, the list of such currency pairs will expand to include the Turkmen and, probably, Azerbaijani currencies. The issue of creating a single currency will come to the fore only after this happens.
Full version and the opinion of Professor Marshall I. Goldman is published on valdaiclub.com
The global crisis has increased the risk of conducting settlement in third-country currencies, be it the dollar or the euro. To be sure, the transition to a single settlement currency has so far been impractical for technical and political reasons, but for the sake of convenience alone, this should be pursued.
The first phase would involve regular exchange trading. It should be conducted primarily in Moscow given its developed financial infrastructure and intense economic relations. Initially, the traded currency pairs should include the Russian ruble, the Ukranian hryvnia, the Kazakh tenge and the Belarusian ruble. The volume of trading with other countries has so far been inadequate for these purposes. If we successfully transition to conducting trade operations within the CIS in the currencies of the participating countries, the list of such currency pairs will expand to include the Turkmen and, probably, Azerbaijani currencies. The issue of creating a single currency will come to the fore only after this happens.
Full version and the opinion of Professor Marshall I. Goldman is published on valdaiclub.com