122 BRE-CASE seminar: Why a Breakup of the Euro Area Must be Avoided
One of the big questions of our time is whether the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) will survive? This is the question which Anders Åslund asks at the beginning of his paper and he continues: „Too often, analysts discuss a possible departure of one of several countries from the euro area as little more than devaluation, but I argue ale that any country’s exit from the euro area would be a far greater event with potentially odious consequences. Exit from the EMU cannot be selective: it is either none or all.
The breakup of the currency zone is far more serious than a devaluation. When a monetary union with huge uncleared balances is broken up, the international payments mechanism within the union breaks up, impending all economic interaction. A new payments mechanism may take years to establish, as was the case in the former Soviet Union”
The topic of both the paper and the seminar will be a lesson we have to learn from the breakups of the monetary unions in the past; with the special attention devoted to the breakup of the Ruble zone, in which the author himself was actively involved.
The seminar will take place on September 20th in the BRE Bank SA headquarter, room nr. 5.3, 5th floor,
18 Senatorska str. in Warsaw.
Exceptionally, this seminar will start at. 4 p.m.
We will be happy to host everyone interested in participating.
