USSR

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had been for many years a centrally planned economy with no role for monetary policy. Some reforms were introduced from the late 1980s, but political and economic tensions affected their coherence and contributed to the dissolution of the union at the end of 1991.

Years	Targets and attainment	Classification
1974-87	centrally planned command economy, monobank with responsibility to provide finance for investments as determined by plan, with no role for monetary policy; some piecemeal changes to central planning and role of prices from mid-1980s, but little impact on banking or monetary arrangements	multiple direct controls MDC
1988-91	beginning of two-tier banking system, previous monobank Gosbank now formally becomes central bank, but has little independence or effective instruments, five specialised banks created out of Gosbank, later becoming commercial banks; end-1990 Gosbank and specialised banks split on territorial lines; multiple exchange rate arrangements; deficit financing by Gosbank, rising inflation, despite January 1991 monetary reform and April 1991 ‘anti-crisis’ programme; rising tensions between republics of USSR, failure to agree monetary or trade cooperation; growing political and economic problems and upheavals, including attempted coup August 1991 and cash shortages late 1991, leading in December 1991 to dissolution of USSR  (with takeover of Gosbank by Central Bank of Russia)	unstructured discretion UD

Selected IMF references: [Note USSR was not member of IMF, so no Article IV reports available] The Economy of the USSR: Summary and Recommendations, 1990, pp2-11; The Economy of the Former USSR in 1991, 1992, pp1-3, 11-19, 25-8.