NationStates Jolt Archive

Greetings to my fellow UN members and delegates.

The following is my idea for legal methods to improve international trade and the wealth of all UN member nations, as well as to help the UN better organise its funds and the allocation thereof:

UN Currency Initiative

If approved and voted for, this proposal will initiate the following:

(1) The creation of a specialised convertible UN currency, the Mondial, which would primarily be used: (a) to allocate and organise funds for the UN and its programmes; and (b) as an open, voluntary means of facilitating trade between member regions.

This currency will be convertible to and from the currencies of all UN member nations, whilst allowing said member nations to retain use of their home currency alongside the Mondial for both internal and external transactions if they so desire.

(2) The creation of a UN Treasury Bank, which will print and store Mondials, as well as record and approve/deny (as necessary) the movements thereof. The UN Treasury Bank will also be the financial guarantor of official UN policies that require the movement of funds.

This institution will not allow member nations to have individual accounts for investment purposes. However, this institution will allow all member nations equal access to the financial services outlined below:

i. Monthly statements outlining the UN’s utilisation of Mondials. The UN will be required to disclose to all its member nations the monthly movements of Mondials as well as their purposes. This statement will be compiled every first day of the following month and will be available in the offices of the UN Treasury Bank for member nations to view by no later than the fifth day of that same month. Copies of the statement will be sent directly to the chief governing office of each member nation on that same day. Upon receipt member nations, through their regional delegates, may question, and propose changes to, the utilisation of Mondials.
ii. Currency exchange. The national currencies of all member nations will be accepted in exchange for Mondials, at exchange rates based upon financial and economic factors as they relate specifically to the UN and the member nation in question. UN delegates may freely transact exchanges between their respective constituent nations and the Treasury Bank. Businesses may also apply to the Treasury Bank, through their regional delegates, for currency exchanges. However, these exchanges must fall between the minimum allowance of 1000 Mondials and the maximum allowance of 50000 Mondials.
iii. Payment of UN funds. Member nations may freely pay into UN funds with native currencies, which will automatically be converted into UN Mondials for them. Payment in original Mondials will also be freely accepted from member nations.
iv. Loans to member nations. Member nations, through their regional delegates, may make applications to the Treasury Bank for loans in Mondials. Treasury Bank officials will then assess the validity of each individual application, through two means: (a) research into the circumstances involved in the loan request, and (b) personal visitation of the member nation in question. If denied, the member nation will be given an official report explaining in full detail why the loan was denied. If approved, there will be a grace period of three years, after which time: (a) the loan will mature, and the monthly interest will be accrued at 2.5%; and (b) the member nation will be required to begin payment of the loan. Failure to repay the loan without legitimate explanation will result in no further loans being granted to the member nation, as well as an official Treasury Bank Declaration of Financial Insolubility being issued against said nation.

(3) The addition of the Mondial to the currency exchange facilities of all member nations. The Mondial will be issued to the financial institutions of all member nations for purposes of exchange. These financial institutions will be required to keep a minimum of 5000 Mondials in reserve for purposes of exchange.

I would appreciate any constructive feedback regarding this proposal.

Well, there are a few issues here, but i'd first like to say that the idea of a universal currency is BRILLIANT. It would greatly help to facilitate trade (Just look at how the euro has worked out for the EU.) However, though the "Mondial" is a respectable name in and of itself, why not open the name up to suggestions, and once we have a few good ones, open up a poll and let people vote. Personally, I'd like something more representative of the United Nations (like the 'euro' represents the European Union)

However, for purposes of clarificiation, i will use the term "Mondial" to represent whatever the currency is going to be called in the future.

Okay, the issue here is that you're jumbling a lot into one proposal. The issue of uniting nations under one currency and in effect, creating a "Bank & Treasury of the UN" are two seperate proposals entirely.

Now, about the "Bank" proposal. I think that, MAYBE, it could be a workable proposal. Nations basically storing their money, and poorer nations "loaning" money to develop their nation. You've got a good concept, but it needs to be refined a bit.

The real question here is, Where's the money coming from? You can't simply go "Alright, the world's poor, so let's print a couple billion Mondials and we'll all be rich. That just causes inflation. Currency is worthless without hard, tangible wealth (such as gold specie) to back it. So the entire concept of printing currency, and then lending that currency out, is going to be pointless without financial backing.

The way to do this is to have the nations, individually, convert all of their currency into Mondials. So, my nation of Tejasdom, with the currency Barton, would basically destroy all my Bartons and declare them void, and reissue Mondials of the same amount in exchange for the Bartons. This does not affect the world economy in any way. It's like you exchanging your yardstick for a new stick that is of the exact same length but labeled in centimeters instead of inches. However, as all nations began converting to the Mondial system, we'd all be united under a single currency and there'd be less of a mess due to conversion and all.

The key, however, is convincing nations to convert. The proposal COULD mandate that all currencies of UN nations be converted. However, this would probably be largely unpopular, and go against the changing of game mechanics. (And alternate proposal you could make to resolve this is letting all nations keep their currency "names" but mandating that 1 whatever currency of a UN nation must be equal to 1 UN Mondial at all times. That would solve the problem and also let nations keep their currency names.

The real pickle with that is, you would have to go in and control the currency issues of every country. You'd have to go in, and say, "Okay, your inflation is kind going down, so to keep 1 Barton equal to 1 Mondial, you have to print EXACTLY 4 million Bartons." I'd be willing to do that to keep the system right, but i dunno about the majority of nations. You'd REALLY have to convince them.

The other way is, "ENCOURAGING", but not "REQUIRING" all nations to convert their currencies. Then, you'd have to hope for a majority of nations to convert. But then, if you did that, the proposal would be sort of pointless.

Also, you should probably set the value of a mondial, before you start dictating what's the minimum/maximum that nations can loan.