Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Kazakhstan's First Deputy Prime Minister Bakhytjan Sagintayev has said his country will keep its national currency tenge in the Eurasian Economic Union.

"The use of single currency within the Eurasian Economic Union is not envisaged in the draft agreement on the establishment of the organization," he noted.

The talks about single currency have started since the mid-1990s, and they began immediately after the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The use of singe currency within this organization was proposed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in 2012.

Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan can use single currency within the Eurasian Economic Union. However, these countries should take into account the experience of the European Union which has been using single currency euro in the member countries with different economic development levels.

However, the Eurasian Economic Union's members will face several problems in using single currency. The main problem is that the national currency of which member state will be used as single currency.

If Russian ruble will become single currency, other countries will not agree with that the Russian Central Bank to act as the issuer of banknotes. The most acceptable variant in this issue is the establishment of a supranational bank, an analog of the European Central Bank and creation of new single currency.

Meanwhile, the use of single currency has an advantage as well. It will accelerate the integration process within the Eurasian Economic Union.

The history of the Eurasian Economic Union began in November 2011 with the signing of a series of documents, in particular a declaration on establishment of the Eurasian Economic Integration, an agreement on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Commission and its regulations.

It is expected that the heads of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will sign an agreement on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union in May, 2014 and the organization will start its activity on January 1, 2015.

The main conditions to join the organization are to have unified tariffs and technical regulations, to harmonize labor and immigration legislation and to establish a unified banking system.