Too early to speak about single currency in Customs Union - Grigory Marchenko

"In the future, our region may have such a regional currency in the framework of the Customs Union and Single Economic Space. It is a long path that will take at least 8-10 years. Realistically, we are not moving in this direction," Marchenko said on the sidelines of the VI Astana Economic Forum.

According to the head of the National Bank, to create a single currency the CU member states must develop uniform macroeconomic parameters, similar to those that exist in the European Union.

He said that theoretically it is possible to introduce a regional currency in the Customs Union within 10 years.

As for the reasons that could potentially slow down the process of creating a single currency, Marchenko said that for the CU it would be "difficult to correct common macroeconomic parameters."

"According the the Maastricht Treaty, for example, inflation should not be more than 2% per year, and inflation in Belarus was 102% a year. In such a situation, we cannot speak about single monetary policy. Thus, we must first understand what inflation rate we consider acceptable, make this decision, and then perform it for quite a long time," the Chairman of the National Bank noted.

The Maastricht Treaty (the Treaty on European Union) was signed on February 7, 1992 in Maastricht (Netherlands). The countries that have signed the Maastricht Treaty endorsed the five criteria that must be fulfilled by countries that join the European Monetary Union: the budget deficit should not exceed 3% of GDP, public debt should be less than 60% of GDP, two years participation in the exchange rate mechanism and maintaining the exchange rate within a given range, the inflation rate must not exceed by more than 1.5% the average inflation rate of the three EU member states with the most stable prices, long-term interest rates on government bonds should not exceed more than 2% of the mean value corresponding rates in the countries with the lowest inflation.