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No need to dramatize situation with settlements in dollars — deputy FM

Development of a common monetary and financial system is a key element of the Eurasian Economic Union, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Nebenzya said

MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/. The situation with the idea to transfer settlements between Russia and Belarus to dollars and euros should not be dramatized, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Nebenzya told TASS in an interview on Wednesday.

“It is obvious that it spontaneously emerged in light of the international financial system’s current uneasy period,” he said. “Naturally, this also affects the functioning of the economies of the Customs Union member states.”

Development of a common monetary and financial system is a key element of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) being formed now, as the constituent countries are seeking to expand mutual settlements in their national currencies, Nebenzya said.

“For this purpose, the treaty on the union contains a provision for laying the grounds for a common market of financial services and setting up a supra-national agency for regulating the market,” he said.

“Still, persistent work towards a reduction of currency-related risks and a buildup of liquidity are necessary for an expanded use of national currencies,” Nebenzya said. “Equally necessary is an increase in demand for transactions in national currencies on the part of governments and corporations.”

“Eurasian Economic Commission is already considering an expanded use of national currencies by the Eurasian Customs Union countries and the setting up of a unified system of payments in the framework of the EEU,” he said.

Along with it, Nebenzya recalled that already now at least a half of all financial transactions among the EEU countries are made in national currencies, another 40%, in US dollars, 8% to 9% in euro, and about 1%, in other currencies.