South Ossetia will stop using the Georgian currency (lari) at the very
start of 2011, the State Committee for Information, Links and
Communication of South Ossetia announced, RIA Novosti reports.
Sergey Gagloyev, head of the South Ossetian administration of Leningor
District, said that they had decided to abandon the lari and informed
the population and business about the issue. It will no longer be used
from January 10, 2011. The authorities say that the Russian ruble is a
wide-spread currency here.
From 1989 to 2008 the Leningor District of South Ossetia was occupied
by Georgian forces. After the Georgian agression in August 2008 the
district was liberated, but part of the population still had economic
connections with Georgia. The authorities of South Ossetia decided to
adopt a simplified regime of crossing the state border with Georgia
for the Leningor District and to allow the use of Georgian currency
for a period.
