Central Bank's Yudayeva may head EEC working group on currency integration - source
MOSCOW. May 26 (Interfax) - Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Ksenia Yudayeva may be named to head the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) working group on further integration in the currency sphere, a source in the government's finance and economics wing told Interfax.
The Russian delegation to the working group is expected to include Yudayeva, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev and First Deputy Economic Development Minister Alexei Likhachev.
The Central Bank also proposes holding working consultations with representatives of the central banks in the other EEC countries during the International Banking Congress to be held in St. Petersburg on June 3-5, the source said.
In practice, the Russian Central Bank does not believe a single EEC currency can be introduced until a level playing field for conducting economic activity has been created and the free movement of goods, services, capital and labor has been ensured. The will require bringing a host of macroeconomic parameters closer together and developing and carrying out a coordinated macroeconomic, tax, monetary and currency policy.
The tasks in the preparatory stages must be exhaustively resolved in order to avoid the risks from forcing a shift to the more advanced stage of integration (currency union).
At the current stage, it is expedient to concentrate on resolving the most pressing and priority problems of a short-term and medium-term nature, such as construction of a common market space, expansion of the use of national currencies in mutual settlements and creation of a payment-settlement system for the EEC countries, the source said.
In the second half of June, the Economic Development Ministry and the Finance Ministry may present their proposals on further EEC integration in the currency and finance areas and their opinions on the expediency and ability to create a future currency union, the source said.