Currency union

A currency union (also known as monetary union) is an intergovernmental agreement that involves two or more states sharing the same currency. These states may not necessarily have any further integration (such as an economic and monetary union, which would have, in addition, a customs union and a single market).

World map of current international currency unions

There are three types of currency unions:

• Informal – unilateral adoption of a foreign currency.^[1]
• Formal – adoption of foreign currency by virtue of bilateral or multilateral agreement with the monetary authority, sometimes supplemented by issue of local currency in currency peg regime.
• Formal with common policy – establishment by multiple countries of a common monetary policy and monetary authority for their common currency.

The theory of the optimal currency area addresses the question of how to determine what geographical regions should share a currency in order to maximize economic efficiency.^[2]

Advantages and disadvantages

Implementing a new currency in a country is always a controversial topic because it has both many advantages and disadvantages. New currency has different impacts on businesses and individuals, which creates more points of view on the usefulness of currency unions. As a consequence, governmental institutions often struggle when they try to implement a new currency, for example by entering a currency union.

Advantages

• A currency union helps its members strengthen their competitiveness on a global scale and eliminate the exchange rate risk.
• Transactions among member states can be processed faster and their costs decrease since fees to banks are lower.^[3]
• Prices are more transparent and so are easier to compare, which enables fair competition.
• The probability of a monetary crisis is lower. The more countries there are in the currency union, the more they are resistant to crisis.

Disadvantages

• The member states lose their sovereignty in monetary policy decisions. There is usually an institution (such as a central bank) that takes care of the monetary policymaking in the whole currency union.
• The risk of asymmetric "shocks" may occur. The criteria set by the currency union are never perfect, so a group of countries might be substantially worse off while the others are booming.
• Implementing a new currency causes high financial costs. Businesses and also single persons have to adapt to the new currency in their country, which includes costs for the businesses to prepare their management, employees, and they also need to inform their clients and process plenty of new data.
• Unlimited capital movement may cause moving most resources to the more productive regions at the expense of the less productive regions. The more productive regions tend to attract more capital in goods and services, which might avoid the less productive regions.^[4][5]

Convergence and divergence

Convergence in terms of macroeconomics means that countries have a similar economic behaviour (similar inflation rates and economic growth). It is easier to form a currency union for countries with more convergence as these countries have the same or at least very similar goals. The European Monetary Union (EMU) is a contemporary model for forming currency unions. Membership in the EMU requires that countries follow a strictly defined set of criteria (the member states are required to have a specific rate of inflation, government deficit, government debt, long-term interest rates and exchange rate). Many other unions have adopted the view that convergence is necessary, so they now follow similar rules to aim the same direction.

Divergence is the exact opposite of convergence. Countries with different goals are very difficult to integrate in a single currency union. Their economic behaviour is completely different, which may lead to disagreements. Divergence is therefore not optimal for forming a currency union.^[6]

History

The first currency unions were established in the 19th century. The German Zollverein came into existence in 1834, and by 1866, it included most of the German states. The fragmented states of the German Confederation agreed on common policies to increase trade and political unity.

The Latin Monetary Union, comprising France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and Greece, existed between 1865 and 1927, with coinage made of gold and silver. Coins of each country were legal tender and freely interchangeable across the area. The union's success made other states join informally.

The Scandinavian Monetary Union, comprising Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, existed between 1873 and 1905 and used a currency based on gold. The system was dissolved by Sweden in 1924.^[7]

A currency union among the British colonies and protectorates in Southeast Asia, namely the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, Singapore and Brunei was established in 1952. The Malaya and British Borneo dollar, the common currency for circulation was issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya and British Borneo from 1953 until 1967. Following the cessation of the common currency arrangement, Malaysia (the combination of Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak), Singapore and Brunei began issuing their own currencies. Contemporarily, a currency reunion of these countries might still be feasible based on the findings of economic convergence.^[8][9]

List of currency unions

Existing

Currency	Union	Users	Est.	Status	Population
CFA franc	Issued by the (French) Overseas Issuing Institute between 1945 and 1962 then by the Central Bank of West African States and the Bank of Central African States	West African CFA franc users:   Benin   Burkina Faso   Côte d'Ivoire   Guinea-Bissau   Mali   Niger   Senegal   Togo Central African CFA franc users:   Cameroon   Central African Republic   Chad   Equatorial Guinea   Gabon   Republic of the Congo	1945	Formal, common policy	151,978,440
CFP franc	Issued by the (French) Overseas Issuing Institute	French Polynesia   New Caledonia   Wallis and Futuna	1945	Formal, common policy	552,537
Eastern Caribbean dollar	Eastern Caribbean Currency Union of the OECS	Anguilla   Antigua and Barbuda   Dominica   Grenada   Montserrat   Saint Kitts and Nevis   Saint Lucia   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1965	Formal, common policy de facto EMU for CSME members^[10]	625,000
Euro	International status and usage of the euro	Eurozone:   Austria   Belgium   Croatia   Cyprus   Estonia   Finland   France   Germany   Greece   Ireland   Italy   Latvia   Lithuania   Luxembourg   Malta   Netherlands   Portugal   Slovakia   Slovenia   Spain and EU special territories:   French Southern and Antarctic Lands   Saint Barthélemy   Saint Pierre and Miquelon   Akrotiri and Dhekelia   Andorra   Kosovo   Monaco   Montenegro   San Marino   Vatican City	1999/2002	Formal, common policy and EMU for EU members Formal for Monaco and Akrotiri and Dhekelia (which form part of the EU's customs territory) Informal for Kosovo, Montenegro Formal for Andorra and San Marino (which are in customs union with the EU's customs territory)	341,008,867
Singapore dollar Brunei dollar	Managed together by the Monetary Authority of Singapore	Brunei   Singapore	1967	Formal; currencies mutually exchangeable^[11]	5,137,000
Australian dollar		Australia and external territories:   Ashmore and Cartier Islands   Australian Antarctic Territory   Christmas Island   Cocos (Keeling) Islands   Coral Sea Islands Territory   Heard Island and McDonald Islands   Norfolk Island   Kiribati   Nauru   Tuvalu	1966	Informal	24,557,000
Pound sterling	Sterling area (former)	United Kingdom and Overseas Territories:   British Antarctic Territory   British Indian Ocean Territory   Falkland Islands   Gibraltar   Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha   South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Crown Dependencies:   Bailiwick of Guernsey   Bailiwick of Jersey   Isle of Man	1939	Semi-formal. UK banknotes are legal tender in locations outside the UK. Local currencies are pegged to the GBP but not necessarily accepted in the UK: Guernsey pound, Manx pound, Jersey pound and Alderney pound, Falkland Islands pound, Gibraltar pound, Saint Helena pound	62,321,000
Indian rupee		India   Bhutan^[12]     Nepal^[13]	1974	Informal Nepal minor usage	1,352,000,000
New Zealand dollar		New Zealand and Realm:   Cook Islands   Niue   Tokelau   Pitcairn Islands	1967	Informal	4,411,000
Israeli new sheqel		Israel   Palestine	1927/1986	Informal	11,738,000
Jordanian dinar^[14]^[15]		Jordan   Palestine (West Bank only)		Informal	8,922,000
Russian ruble		Russia   Abkhazia   South Ossetia	2008	Informal	142,177,000
South African rand	Multilateral Monetary Area	Lesotho   Namibia   South Africa   Eswatini	1974	Formal de facto customs and monetary union for the SACU member countries	52,924,669
Swiss franc		Liechtenstein    Switzerland	1920	Informal de facto economic and monetary union—1924 creation of a customs union, then members of the European Free Trade Association (a common market), and now also part of the European Single Market.	8,547,015
Turkish lira		Turkey   Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus	1983	Informal	75,081,100
United States dollar		United States and insular areas:   American Samoa   Guam   United States Minor Outlying Islands   Northern Mariana Islands   Puerto Rico   United States Virgin Islands and Compact of Free Association members:   Marshall Islands   Federated States of Micronesia   Palau   Ecuador   El Salvador   Panama   Timor-Leste   Turks and Caicos Islands   British Virgin Islands   BES islands	1904 (Panama only)	Formal for insular areas and sovereign status with Compact of Free Association,^[16] informal for other areas	339,300,000

Note: Every customs and monetary union and economic and monetary union also has a currency union.

  Zimbabwe is theoretically in a currency union with four blocs as the South African rand, Botswana pula, British pound and US dollar freely circulate. The US Dollar was, until 2016, official tender.^[17]

Additionally, the autonomous and dependent territories, such as some of the EU member state special territories, are sometimes treated as separate customs territory from their mainland state or have varying arrangements of formal or de facto customs union, common market and currency union (or combinations thereof) with the mainland and in regards to third countries through the trade pacts signed by the mainland state.^[18]

Currency union in Europe

The European currency union is a part of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union (EMU). EMU was formed during the second half of the 20th century after historic agreements, such as Treaty of Paris (1951), Maastricht Treaty (1992). In 2002, the euro, a single European currency, was adopted by 12 member states. Currently, the Eurozone has 20 member states. The other members of the European Union are required to adopt the euro as their currency (except for Denmark, which has been given the right to opt out), but there has not been a specific date set. The main independent institution responsible for stability of the euro is the European Central Bank (ECB). Together with 15 national banks it forms the European System of Central Banks. The Governing Board consists of the Executive Committee of the ECB and the governors of individual national banks, and determines the monetary policy, as well as short-term monetary objectives, key interest rates and the extent of monetary reserves.^[19]

Planned

See also: List of proposed currencies

Community	Currency	Region	Target date	Notes
East African Community	East African shilling	Africa	2012 (not met), 2015 (not met), 2024^[20]
West African Monetary Zone	Eco	Africa	2027	Inside Economic Community of West African States, planned to eventually merge with West African franc
ASEAN+3	Asian Monetary Unit^[citation needed]	Asia	?	a free trade agreements matrix partially established
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf	Khaleeji	Arabian Peninsula	?	Oman and the United Arab Emirates do not intend to adopt the currency at first but will do at a later date.
African Economic Community	Afro or Afriq	Africa	2028^[21]	Planned for 2028 or later
Brazil, Argentina and possibly other countries	Sur	Latin America	?	As Financial Times reports, Brazil and Argentina will announce in January 2023 that they are starting preparatory work on a common currency "Sur" (South). The initiative would later be extended to invite other Latin American nations.^[22]

Disbanded

See also: Bretton Woods Conference

• between   Bahrain and   Abu Dhabi using the Bahraini dinar
• between   Bahrain,   Kuwait,   Oman,   Qatar and the   Trucial States, using the Gulf rupee from 1959 until 1966
• between   Aden,   South Arabia,   Bahrain,   Kenya,   Kuwait,   Oman,   Qatar,   British Somaliland,   the Trucial States,   Uganda,   Zanzibar and   British India (later independent   India) using the Indian rupee
• between   Belgium and the   Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg (Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union) using the Belgian/Luxembourgish franc from 1921 to the Euro
• between   British India and the   Straits Settlements (1837–1867) using the Indian rupee
• between   Czech Republic and   Slovakia (briefly from January 1, 1993 to February 8, 1993) using the Czechoslovak koruna
• between   Ethiopia and   Eritrea using the Ethiopian birr
• between   France,   Monaco, and   Andorra using the French franc
• between   Austria-Hungary and   Liechtenstein using the Austro-Hungarian krone
• between the Eastern Caribbean,   Jamaica,   Barbados,   Trinidad and Tobago and   British Guiana using the British West Indies dollar
• between the Eastern Caribbean,   Barbados,   Trinidad and Tobago and   British Guiana using the Eastern Caribbean dollar
• between   Italy,   Vatican City, and   San Marino using the Italian lira
• between   Jamaica and the   Cayman Islands using the Jamaican pound and later Jamaican dollar
• between   Kenya,   Uganda, and   Zanzibar using the East African rupee
• between   Kenya,   Uganda, and   Zanzibar (and later   Tanganyika) using the East African florin
• between   Kenya,   Tanganyika and   Zanzibar (later merged as   Tanzania),   Uganda,   South Arabia,   British Somaliland and   Italian Somaliland using the East African shilling
• Latin Monetary Union (1865–1927), initially between   France,   Belgium,   Italy and   Switzerland, and later involving   Greece,^[23]   Romania,   Spain and other countries.
• between   Liberia and the   United States using the United States dollar
• between   Mauritius and   Seychelles using the Mauritian rupee
• between   Nigeria,   the Gambia,   Sierra Leone,   the Gold Coast and   Liberia using the British West African pound
• between   Prussia and the North German states (1838–1857) using the North German thaler
• between   Russia and the   former Soviet republics (1991–1993) using the Soviet ruble
• between   Qatar and all the emirates of the   United Arab Emirates, except Abu Dhabi using the Qatari and Dubai riyal
• between   Saudi Arabia and   Qatar using the Saudi riyal
• between   Western Samoa and   New Zealand using the New Zealand pound
• Scandinavian Monetary Union (1870s until 1924), between   Denmark,   Norway and   Sweden^[23]
• between the   Solomon Islands,   Papua New Guinea and   Australia using the Australian dollar
• between   Australia,   Papua,   New Guinea,   Nauru,   the Solomon Islands, and   the Gilbert and Ellice Islands using the Australian pound
• between   Bavaria,   Baden,   Württemberg,   Frankfurt, and   Hohenzollern using the South German guilder
• between   Spain and   Andorra using the Spanish peseta
• between   Trinidad and Tobago and   Grenada using the Trinidad and Tobago dollar
• between   Brunei,   Malaysia, and   Singapore (1953–1967) using the Malaya and British Borneo dollar
• between   Cambodia,   Laos,   Guangzhouwan,   Annam,   Tonkin, and   Cochinchina (later   Vietnam) between 1885 and 1952 using the French Indochinese piastre
• between   South Africa,   South West Africa, and   Bechuanaland (later independent   Botswana) using the South African rand
• between   Egypt,   Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and   Mandatory Palestine (until 1926) using the Egyptian pound
• between   West Germany and   East Germany between 1 July 1990 and 3 October 1990, as part of a temporary, so-called "Monetary, Economic and Social Union" prior to German reunification.
• between what ultimately became the   Republic of Ireland and the   United Kingdom, between 1928 and 1979. The Irish Pound was held at exactly the same value as Sterling for this period, although it was not accepted for payments in the UK.
• Yen Bloc (between 1905 and 1945), between the   Empire of Japan, the   Korean Empire,   Manchukuo,   Mengjiang, the   Wang Jingwei regime, and Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia prior to and during World War II.

Never materialized

• proposed Pan-American monetary union – abandoned in the form proposed by Argentina
• proposed monetary union between the   United Kingdom and   Norway using the pound sterling during the late 1940s and early 1950s
• proposed gold-backed, pan-African monetary union put forward by Muammar Gaddafi prior to his death

See also

•  Money portal
•  Numismatics portal

• List of pegged currencies
• North American Currency Union (Amero)^[24]

References

1. "World Bank" (PDF). WorldBank.org. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
2. Hafner, Kurt A.; Jager, Jennifer. "The Optimum Currency Area Theory and the EMU". Intereconomics. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
3. Global Economy, The. "Currency unions, Monetary unions". The Global Economy. Naven Valev. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
4. "Study". Study.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
5. "Global Financial Integrity". gfintegrity.org. 20 June 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
6. Enoch, Charles; Krueger, Russell. "Currency unions: key variables, definitions, measurement, and statistical improvement" (PDF). Bank for International Settlements. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
7. Bolton, Sally (10 December 2001). "History of currency unions". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
8. . Bank Negara Malaysia. 2010. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
9. Quah, C. H.; Ho, Y. J. (2020). "Economic Feasibility of Malaysia and Singapore-Brunei Monetary Reunion: A Scrutiny during Major Financial Crises". Applied Economics Journal. 27 (1): 23–51.
10. Anguilla and Montserrat are members of OECS currency union, but not of the CSME.
11. To all intents and purposes a monetary union. They are the last two nations whose dollars have remained at par and mutually interchangeable since the days when the Spanish Dollar was the united currency of large areas of the New World and Southeast Asia.
12. alongside the ngultrum
13. Not official, but freely used as a tender in Nepal, due to primarily the economic flux with India and also the instability caused by that country's civil war.
14. Zacharia, Janine (2010-05-31). "Palestinian officials think about replacing Israeli shekel with Palestine pound". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
15. Cobham, David (2004-09-15). "Alternative currency arrangements for a new Palestinian state" (PDF). In David Cobham (ed.). The Economics of Palestine: Economic Policy and Institutional Reform for a Viable Palestine State. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415327619. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
16. "Compact- Title 02 Article 05". www.fsmlaw.org.
17. "Zimbabwe abandons its currency". 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
18. EU Overseas countries and some other territories participate partially in the EU single market per part four of the Treaty Establishing the European Community 2013-11-16 at the Wayback Machine; Some EU Outermost regions and other territories use the Euro of the currency union, others are part of the customs union; some participate in both unions and some in neither.
    Territories of the United States, Australian External Territories and Realm of New Zealand territories share the currency and mostly also the market of their respective mainland state, but are generally not part of its customs territory.
19. "European Union". Europa.eu. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
20. Asongu, Simplice; Nwachukwu, Jacinta; Tchamyou, Vanessa (2016-08-01). "A Literature Survey on Proposed African Monetary Unions" (PDF). Journal of Economic Surveys. 31 (3): 878–902. doi:10.1111/joes.12174. ISSN 1467-6419. S2CID 38454408.
21. "A common currency at a later stage of Africa's economic integration". 30 November 2001.
22. "Brazil and Argentina to begin preparations for common currency, Financial Times reports". Reuters. 2023-01-22. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
23. Bolton, Sally (10 December 2001). "A history of currency unions". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2012. France persuaded Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Greece
24. Not currently on any political agenda, based mostly off conspiracy theories.

Further reading

• Acocella, N. and Di Bartolomeo, G. and Tirelli, P. [2007], ‘Monetary conservatism and fiscal coordination in a monetary union’, in: ‘Economics Letters’, 94(1): 56–63.
• Bergin, Paul (2008). "Monetary Union". In David R. Henderson (ed.). Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (2nd ed.). Indianapolis: Library of Economics and Liberty. ISBN 978-0865976658. OCLC 237794267.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Currency unions.

• West Africa opts for currency union
• Economist- Antipodean currencies (Australia and New Zealand)
• OECD Development Centre – the Rand Zone