Yes to Four Partners, No to Single Currency

National Bank of Ukraine Governor Serhiy Tihipko considers it necessary to speed up the formation of a single economic space of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, but he is convinced it is too early to discuss the introduction of a single currency as part of this process. Interfax-Ukraine quotes him as saying in a Komsomolskaya pravda v Ukraine call-in, “A single economic space with Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan is possible. For if no concrete decisions are made in the next six months, very many politicians, even of the highest rank, will lost interest in the idea of the CIS.” Speaking of the possibility of introducing a common currency in the single economic space, the National Bank governor emphasized that “this is a question of the very distant future.” In his opinion, a single currency must be the result of “large-scale integration, while we are so far unable to do even elementary things...It will take us 7 to 10 years to achieve this kind of integration.”