According To Russian Experts, Euro Will Not Take Hold On Russian Currency Market Soon

Euro, the single European currency, to be put into circulation since January 1, 2002, will not take hold on the Russian currency market soon, said Olga Butorina, branch director of the Institute of Europe (Russian Academy of Sciences) and advisor to the Moscow Inter-Bank Currency Exchange (MICEX) at a scientific seminar Thursday. According to her, currently the share of euro on the MICEX sales barely amounts to 1%. Butorina says that basic difficulties with promotion of euro on the Russian currency market are caused by lack of experience and information as regards work with this currency. Besides, the broad use of the "conditional unit" (US dollar) stipulates for "deficiency of the euro market in Russia". Butorina says, at the same time, that Russian companies working with European markets have accumulated certain experience of the use of euro.