Yermakova: No need to push for single currency

           During a question and answer session at the Zvyazda newspaper, Chairperson of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus Nadezhda Yermakova advised against pushing for the single currency in the integration associations in the CIS. “We should not hurry to introduce the single currency, because things are not as simple as they seem. Look what is happening in the European Union, how much controversy emerged over the single European currency – euro- in some EU member states,” Nadezhda Yermakova said. She believes that it is impossible to introduce the single currency in the CIS, the Customs Union or the Union State of Belarus and Russia using the same principles as were applied in the Soviet Union. “We need some other mechanisms to align our currencies. Maybe, in the long-term perspective, some ten years from now, not earlier, the single currency might become a reality. However, before that happens, the countries that will have the heart to do it, will have to pass a long and difficult path of integration of the national economies and legislations,” Nadezhda Yermakova said.