Economic cooperation between the CMEA countries is implemented according
to the monetary and financial regulations worked out collectively. The
regulations cover the organizational structure of international
settlements; the choice of currency for settlements; the principles of
international credit transactions; the determination ofthe exchange rate
of the currency used in international settlements to national currencies
and to convertible currencies outside the CMEA; the principles and rules
ofinternational exchange and transfers; mIes for the currency allotments
of citizens (roles of international transfers for citizens). The
regulations also contain provisions for international settlements and
credit transactions which are concluded through an independent
international bank or banks. These regulations, the instruments and
institutions together, form the international payments and monetary
system of the CMEA. * The financial and monetary regulations of the
CMEA community were formed in several stages, depending on the
prevailing- conditions and the targets to be attained. In the years
between 1949 and 1963 the general form of economic cooperation and of
international settlements was the bilateral clearing agreement. In the
bilateral agreements which the Soviet Union concluded with the other
CMEA countries the currency of settlements was the Soviet rouble. The
prices applied in foreign trade were not the internal producer prices of
the Soviet Union, but world market prices (main international market
prices) expressed in roubles, with the he]p ofthe exchange rate ofthe
Soviet rouble to the US dollar, as quoted in the Soviet Union.
