The introduction of a common currency in South Asia faces significant challenges due to cross-border trade barriers, bureaucratic complexities, visa procedures, people-to-people relations, and limited connectivity, according to experts at the South Asia Economic Summit. Economists and researchers from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka discussed the obstacles to macroeconomic cooperation and common currency adoption.
While Bangladesh has engaged in trade with Indian Rupees and Chinese Yuan, it hasn’t yielded desired results due to trade imbalances. Experts emphasized the need to address these imbalances and barriers before pursuing a common currency, suggesting the introduction of a “virtual common currency” to boost regional trade, trade facilitation, documentation standardization, investment expansion, and simplifying exchange rates as steps to consider. They also called for high-level government committees to regularly meet to work on overcoming hurdles in introducing a common currency, as South Asia holds the potential for enhanced intra-regional trade.
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