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Draft:Transfer ruble

The transfer ruble (XTR) was an international unit of account for the accounting of liabilities, for international assignment of merchandise values and as a unit in multi- and bilateral trade traties between the planning authorities and governments in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon).[1] Its name was based on the name of the Soviet ruble.

In its first few years, the Comecon used national currencies of its member countries for clearing. In 1952, the Comecon countries started using the Soviet ruble as their main currency for bilateral clearing. In order to establish a multilateral trade and clearing system, on October 22, 1963, the Comecon member states concluded an agreement on the introduction of the transfer ruble as a unit of account and on the foundation of the International Bank for Economic Cooperation in Moscow as a clearing house.[1][2] The transfer ruble system then went into service on January 1, 1964.[2] Imports and exports within the economic sphere of the Comecon were accounted exclusively in transfer ruble.

As a pure unit of account, similar to the likewise obsolete European Currency Unit introduced in the European Economic Community in 1979, the transfer ruble remained entirely cashless.[3] The currencies of the Eastern bloc states had fixed exchange rates with the transfer ruble. Due to its lack of convertibility, the transfer ruble was irrelevant in the non-socialist economic sphere.

Clearing procedures

Each country of the Comecon defined a foreign trade bank to participate in transfer ruble clearing. Foreign trade payments were processed by these foreign trade banks. The claims by individual national foreign trade banks were settled in total sums (not separately by each bilateral relation) centrally by the International Bank for Economic Cooperation.[1]

Problems of the transfer ruble system

The main problem of the transfer ruble was how to determine of its exchange rates, based on national productions, structure of exports or structure of total trade turnover.[2] This promoted bilateralism in trade and impeded multilateral payments and economical integration, contributing to the lack of actual convertibility.[2] Unequal advantages in the exchange rates for countries with weaker economies were, however, accepted as a way of economic support,[4] counteracting the problem of unequal exchange with the less developed economies.

The main issue of the centrally planned economies of the Comecon states – insufficient and politically influenced determination of scarcities and values of goods – also put its strain on the transfer ruble system.

All countries within the Comecon distinguished between “soft” and “hard goods”. While hard goods were able to compete in the world market and could be exported into non-socialist economic areas in exchange for hard currencies, soft good were not exportable into the market economies. Thus, all Comecon countries tried to export hard goods for hard currencies in order to obtain foreign exchange which was important for them to be able to import goods and services from the non-socialist economic sphere. Soft goods remained for export within the Comecon in exchange for transfer rubles. This created an incentive to export worse quality within Comecon which would not have been able to compete economically in market economies.[5]

End of the transfer ruble

After 1985 and with the introduction of Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika program it was attempted to open the Soviet economy and establish convertibility of both the Soviet ruble and the transfer ruble, which, however, ultimately failed for the latter.[2] The 45th meeting of the Comecon decided to switch to accounting with hard currencies and up-to-date world market prices from 1991 on. This was to be done by stages, depending on the economical situations of individual countries.[5]

Further reading

References

  1. ^ a b c Fedorowicz, Zdzislaw (1979). "La convertibilité du rouble transférable". Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest (in French). 10 (4): 177–183. doi:10.3406/receo.1979.2257.
  2. ^ a b c d e Faudot, Adrien; Marinova, Tsvetelina; Nenovsky, Nikolay (2022-07-20). "Comecon Monetary Mechanisms. A history of socialist monetary integration (1949 – 1991)". mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  3. ^ Cohen, Benjamin J. (2015). Currency Power: Understanding Monetary Rivalry. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691181066.
  4. ^ Rotleider, A. (1972-11-01). "The Convertible Ruble: the International Socialist Currency of Comecon Countries". Problems in Economics. 15 (7): 83–96. doi:10.2753/PET1061-1991150783. ISSN 0032-9436.
  5. ^ a b Zedilin, Leonard I. (1995). Sowjetunion, DDR und RGW in der Ära Gorbatschow [Soviet Union, GDR and Comecon in the Gorbachev era] (in German). Cologne: Bundesinstitut für ostwissenschaftliche und internationale Studien.

{{Draft categories| [[Category:Comecon]] [[Category:Modern obsolete currencies]] [[Category:Economy of East Germany]] [[Category:Economy of the Soviet Union]] [[Category:Economy of Czechoslovakia]] }}

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