MOSCOW, November 19 (Sputnik) – The authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) are considering introducing a currency to replace the hryvnia on its territory, Alexander Karaman, deputy chairman of the republic's council of ministers for social affairs said Wednesday.
"Various options are being considered. It is necessary, as national currency is one of the basic features of every state. My personal view is that currencies in Donetsk and Luhansk should be different, because the budgets and taxes are different," Karaman said in an interview with Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.
According to Karaman, the public understands that hryvnia's circulation on the territory of the breakaway republics "will eventually be limited if not stopped completely."
Karaman also claimed that the DPR "has a capability to back its currency with commodities."
In mid-November, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued a decree ordering Ukrainian banks to stop serving accounts of enterprises and residents in southeastern Ukraine within one month.
The head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) Igor Plotnitsky has called Poroshenko's economic blockade of Donbas an act on genocide and devastation of the people in the region.
Addressing the same issue, DPR Deputy Prime Minister Denis Pushilin said the republic's authorities have started to work on the implementation of the dual-currency system. According to Pushilin, state lawyers are currently working out the feasibility of trading with Russia in rubles "while remaining within the legal field."
Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev has called the possibility of introducing a dual-currency system in the Donbas Region technically possible, but inconvenient and inefficient.
