DUSHANBE, December 23, 2008, Asia-Plus — Chairman of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) Sharif Rahimzoda has highly appraised the possibility of successful implementation of project for creation of a regional Ruble zone.
He remarked this in his exclusive interview with Asia-Plus, while commenting on repeated statements by Russian officials about the possibility of restoration of the ruble status within the post-Soviet area.
“The possibility of this is quite high. The use the Russian ruble (RR) as one of international accounting units and in the future as the regional reserve currency depends, first of all, on opportunities and the degree of preparedness of Russia’s economy (stability of RR, inflation rate and so forth) to demonstrate long-term positive tendency because currencies of only countries with stable and developed economy may claim for the role of international reserve currency,” Tajik central bank head noted.
“It is to be noted that share of the Russian ruble in remittances to Tajikistan has risen to 30 percent. Besides, to increase its international currency reserves the NBT has purchased more than one billion Russian rubles this year alone,” Rahimzoda stressed.
According to him, stable regional currencies allow all participants of international trade, in particular Tajikistan, to profit by mutual trade and mutual accounting, as well as diversify and reduce risks connected with instability of other currencies.
It is to be noted that President Dmitry Medvedev believes that under the present conditions of global financial instability Russia faces the strategic task of making the ruble a regional currency. He noted that during his meeting with Andrey Kostin, the chairman of the board of directors of Vneshtorgbank, Russia’s second largest bank, last June. Most Russian analysts agree that chances for the ruble to become one of the world reserve currencies are higher then ever.
Belarus and Russia agreed in November to shift to the RR payments for natural gas and oil. Belarus Vice-Premier Andrey Kobyakov remarked this after a meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin, according to Russia’s
Kommersant
. Belarus vice-premier called the transition to ruble payments “our contribution to granting the ruble the status of regional reserve currency.” Kudrin, for his apart, stated “We plan to expand the sphere of the use of the ruble so that it was stipulated in interstate agreements.” “Our task is to make that profitable,” Russian deputy PM said.
In the meantime, some experts suppose that initial institutional legalization of the ruble zone will be held most likely at the nearest CIS summit that will take place in Astana, Kazakhstan in the spring 2009.
