Belarus and Russia prepared draft agreement on the expansion of Russian rouble use in payments

The regular 29th session of Interbank Currency Council took place In Moscow. During the session, in which the Chairman of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus Pyotr Prokopovich and the Chairman of the Bank of Russia Sergei Ignatyev and other representatives of central banks of the both countries took part, a set of urgent questions of the central banks of Belarus and Russia has been discussed.

The regular 29^th session of Interbank Currency Council took place In Moscow. During the session, in which the Chairman of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus Pyotr Prokopovich and the Chairman of the Bank of Russia Sergei Ignatyev and other representatives of central banks of the both countries took part, a set of urgent questions of the central banks of Belarus and Russia has been discussed.

The participants of the session paid most attention to the situation at Belarusian and Russian financial markets in the connection with international financial crisis and the measures that should be taken to minimize its consequences. To better coordinate their actions the parties decided on constant informing of the Interbank Currency Council on this issue including the measures taken to regulate liquidity of the bank sector.

Besides during the council session special attention was given to the issue of Russian rouble use expansion in payments between the agents of management of the two countries. During the discussions of the issue the parties defined the task they are challenging as much as possible use of Russian currency in bilateral payments between Belarus and Russia. For this reason during the council session the draft regulations of the Union State Supreme State Council and Agreement between the two countries on the expansion of Russian rouble use in payments between the agents of management of the Republic of Belarus and Russian Federation. Following the results of the discussions the working groups of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus and the Bank of Russia have been instructed to continue work in this direction.

We would remind that in accordance with the balance of payments for January-September of 2008 the share of the use of Russian rouble in payments between the two countries makes up about 56 percent from the whole turnover. Meanwhile the payments of Russian enterprises for the import of Belarusian products in Russian roubles reached about 89 percent and the payments of Belarusian enterprises for the delivery products from Russia make up a little more than 44 percent.

The next regular session of Interbank Currency Council is planned to be held in February of 2009 on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.