MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshnkin has warned against any haste on such matter of the final stage of Russian-Belarusian integration as common currency and monetary policy.
"We should be in no haste as concern a common currency and a common monetary policy. We need to be sure that economic ties are so strong that the introduction of a common currency entail no fluctuations," he said in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
According to the minister, a common currency is the final stage of integration between Russia and Belarus. "We haven’t discussed this issue thoroughly because it is a matter of a long-term perspective and now we are looking into the next couple of years. We are now working to ensure that Russian and Belarusian companies, regardless of their registration, are in a common economic space," he said, adding that matters of a common monetary policy should be tackled carefully.
"If we form a common monetary policy for two countries, bearing in mind the fact that the Belarusian economy is much smaller than Russia’s is size, such a common monetary policy may only add to the volatility of what is going on in the Belarusian economy," Oreshkin noted.