World Market, Socialist, the sphere of planned commodity and monetary relations between sovereign socialist states. It emerged as a result of the formation of the world socialist economic system, which made it necessary to establish broad economic and foreign trade links between the socialist countries. It is a part of the world market alongside the world capitalist market (see World Market, Capitalist). As the socialist world market develops its impact on the capitalist and world markets steadily increases. The satisfaction of the requirements of every socialist country in commodities manufactured in other socialist countries on the basis of the socialist international division of labour (see Division of Labour, Socialist International) is an important feature of the socialist world market. The principal features of this market are the planned commodity turnover through long-term (usually five-year) intergovernmental agreements and annual protocols; steady trade growth and perfection of the trade structure; higher market capacity and stability; and the relative stability of contract prices. The socialist world market, which handles most of the socialist countries’ foreign trade, is free from the spontaneous influence of the capitalist economy, play of prices, trade competition, and fluctuating exchange rates and customs barriers. The market thus becomes an important factor for extending and intensifying cooperation between the socialist countries, helps to raise and even out their economic development levels, and improve the wellbeing of the working people. The scientific and technological revolution, the expansion and perfecting of cooperation, and the development of socialist economic integration have created considerable changes in the commodity structure of the socialist world market. The share of industrial products with a higher proportion of finished products, such as machines, plant, chemical and consumer items, etc., increases in export and import, while the share of raw and other materials, fuel and foodstuffs is declining. At the same time the range of consumer goods is expanding and their quality improving. The forms of settlement between socialist countries improve as the turnover of the socialist world market increases. Settlements are made through the International Bank for Economic Cooperation, primarily, in the form of multilateral settlements in a special unit—transferable roubles. Alongside this the socialist countries establish economically substantiated and mutually agreed exchange rates in relation to the common currency and between each other. This system of settling accounts allows every socialist country to balance all the income and expenditure without resorting to the dollar or any other capitalist currency. As a result, money circulation in the socialist world 396 market is free from the crisis phenomena of the capitalist monetary system. Credit relations, in which part of the accumulation fund is shifted from one country to another for a certain term, are developing extensively among the socialist countries. Credits are primarily repaid with commodities exported by the given country. In certain cases debtors’ liabilities are cancelled. This lends credits qualitatively new features which are different from credit relations in the capitalist world. The development of the socialist international division of labour, coordination of the national economic plans of socialist countries, and the specialisation and cooperation of production in the process of the extending integration of the CMEA member countries ensure a high growth rate of their trade. While developing the trade in every way possible, the socialist countries conduct an active policy of expanding trade on the basis of equality and mutual advantage with capitalist and developing countries.