CMEA’s Hard Currency Deficits and Rouble Convertibility

Over the past fifteen years, the CMEA countries† have consistently run hard currency deficits in their trade with the West. I will first consider very briefly the extent and causes of these deficits. In Sections II and III, various Eastern convertible-currency proposals, which are related to financing these deficits, will be discussed. The policy issues will be summarised in the final Section. Because of the limitations of space, some of the issues discussed below will be considerably oversimplified.