IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/1587.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Payments and finance problems in the Commonwealth of Independent States

Author

Listed:
  • Michalopoulos, Constantine

Abstract

Payments problems constrained interstate trade among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries in 1992-95, especially during the prolonged demise of the ruble zone. Two kinds of solutions should be sought: 1) more effective stabilization measures to improve the prospects of currency convertibility among CIS countries; and 2) strengthening of institutional arrangements to permit payments and settlements through correspondent bank accounts. Strengthening institutions will require not only strengthening commercial banks but liberalizing foreign exchange markets and promoting the use of letters of credit and other mechanisms to increase the security of trade transactions. A multilateral clearing arrangement operated among central banks would have been a useful alternative to the chaotic payments prevailing earlier, but such arrangements are no longer needed as considerable progress has been made toward convertibility. Nor is a payments union desirable. Trade deficits are likely to persist in such countries as Belarus and Ukraine. Surplus countries such as Russia and Turkmenistan must develop transparent means of trade financing that take into account the recipient countries'ability to pay. External financing will remain important for practically all CIS countries. The best way to mobilize private financing will be to establish macroeconomic stability and stable, transparent rules on private capital inflows. Improving the flow of public resources requires improving countries'capacity to quickly absorb the large amounts already committed. Donors need to expedite procurement and other procedures and recipient countries must address governance problems and institutional weaknesses that delay disbursements. Certain smaller CIS countries face significant debt servicing problems and often the creditors are other CIS countries that themselves need additional financing. The smaller countries need debt relief on concessional terms, which is possible only if external assistance allows local creditors to offer such relief.

Suggested Citation

  • Michalopoulos, Constantine, 1996. "Payments and finance problems in the Commonwealth of Independent States," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1587, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1587
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/1996/04/01/000009265_3961022112352/Rendered/PDF/multi_page.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michalopoulos, Constantine & Tarr, David, 1991. "Trade and payments arrangements in post-CMEA Eastern and Central Europe," Policy Research Working Paper Series 644, The World Bank.
    2. David G. Tarr, 2017. "The Terms-of-Trade Effects of Moving to World Prices on Countries of the Former Soviet Union," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Trade Policies for Development and Transition, chapter 12, pages 271-294, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Peter B. Kenen, 1991. "Transitional Arrangements for Trade and Payments among the CMEA Countries," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 38(2), pages 235-267, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eichengreen, Barry, 1993. "A Marshall Plan for the East: Options for 1993," Center for International and Development Economics Research (CIDER) Working Papers 233185, University of California-Berkeley, Department of Economics.
    2. Schmieding, Holger, 1991. "External protection for the emerging market economies? The case for financial liberalisation instead of import barriers in Eastern Europe," Kiel Working Papers 498, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    3. Nepal, Rabindra & Jamasb, Tooraj, 2012. "Reforming the power sector in transition: Do institutions matter?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 1675-1682.
    4. Branko Milanović, 2001. "Nations, Conglomerates and Empires: Trade-off Between Income and Sovereignty," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Dominick Salvatore & Marjan Svetličič & Jože P. Damijan (ed.), Small Countries in a Global Economy, chapter 1, pages 25-69, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Avanesyan, Vahram & Freinkman, Lev, 2002. "Costing-out the Big Bang: Impact of external shocks on the Armenian economy at the outset of transition," MPRA Paper 10012, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Pomfret, Richard & Anderson, Kathryn H., "undated". "Uzbekistan: Welfare Impact of Slow Transition," WIDER Working Papers 295460, United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Jocelyn Horne, 1995. "The Economics of Transition and the Transition of Economics," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 71(4), pages 379-392, December.
    8. World Bank, 2004. "Ukraine : Trade Policy Study, Volume 2. Main Report," World Bank Publications - Reports 15656, The World Bank Group.
    9. Tarr, David, 2007. "Russian WTO accession : what has been accomplished, what can be expected," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4428, The World Bank.
    10. Patrick Conway, 2017. "Lessons from the Collapse of the Transferable Ruble System and the Joint Currency of Former CMEA Countries for the Eurozone," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 17(04), pages 48-53, January.
    11. Pomfret, Richard, 2012. "Resource management and transition in Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Mongolia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 146-156.
    12. Cevdet Denizer & Holger C. Wolf, 2000. "The Saving Collapse during the Transition in Eastern Europe," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 14(3), pages 445-455, September.
    13. Richard Pomfret, 2009. "Central Asia after Two Decades of Independence," School of Economics and Public Policy Working Papers 2009-32, University of Adelaide, School of Economics and Public Policy.
    14. Schoors, Koen, 2003. "The effect of Soviet monetary disintegration on the collapse of trade between members of the Commonwealth of Independent States," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-26, March.
    15. Dani Rodrik, 1994. "Foreign Trade in Eastern Europe's Transition: Early Results," NBER Chapters, in: The Transition in Eastern Europe, Volume 2, Restructuring, pages 319-356, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Michel Aglietta & Michèle Bailly & Christian de Boissieu & Jean-Michel Charpin & Jean-Paul Dessertine & Etienne Lakits & Georges Mink & Jean-Pierre Page & Jacques Sapir & Jean Pisani-Ferry, 1992. "Repenser le soutien de la communauté internationale à l'Europe de l'Est," Revue de l'OFCE, Programme National Persée, vol. 42(1), pages 199-248.
    17. de Melo, Martha & Denizer, Cevdet & Gelb, Alan & Tenev, Stoyan, 1997. "Circumstance and choice : the role of initial conditions and policies in transition economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1866, The World Bank.
    18. K. Rudgalvis, 1996. "Establishing a new currency and exchange rate determination: the case of Lithuania," CERT Discussion Papers 9604, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
    19. Siebert, Horst, 1991. "Die Integration Osteuropas in die Weltwirtschaft," Kiel Working Papers 491, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    20. Freinkman, Lev & Polyakov, Evgeny & Revenco, Carolina, 2003. "Armenia’s trade performance in 1995-2002 and the effect of closed borders: a cross-country perspective," MPRA Paper 10065, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1587. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.