President of Belarus Lukashenko refuses to use Russian rubles as common currency
Belarus is not against having a single currency with Russia, but it should not be the Russian currency, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko stated on Friday at a meeting dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Belarusian diplomatic service.
“We do not mind a common currency, but it should be a common currency, not the currency of the Central Bank of Russia. There should be an emission center on equal terms,” TASS quoted Lukashenko as saying.
Lukashenko said that Belarus is ready to unify the tax and customs policies with Russia. “We don’t even mind the unification of the two countries, but citizens of Belarus want to live in a sovereign and independent country.”
“We must protect our sovereignty and independence. We want to be in any union but to live in our own apartment. We do have an apartment,” he said.
In late December last year, the Russian Ministry of Finance announced the launching of a single digital currency in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
As reported by Alexei Moiseev, the deputy head of the ministry, the currency could appear in 2020-2021 and will become an equivalent of the ECU, which was used in the European Monetary System of the EEC and EU in 1979-1998.
Moiseev said that the idea is supported not only by member countries of the EAEU but also by other states that are major trading partners of the countries of the union.
Moiseev stressed that the introduction of such a digital currency is inevitable, especially in the conditions of economic sanctions imposed by the United States.