Nearly three-quarters of transactions between Moscow and Beijing are currently made in rubles or yuan, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin revealed during talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Wednesday.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that it considers both the dollar and euro unreliable, as their use in the country’s cross-border transactions has been jeopardized by Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine.
“70% of cross-border settlements between Russia and China are already conducted in national currencies – rubles and yuan,” Mishustin stated.
While attending a business forum in Shanghai on Tuesday, the Russian prime minister also noted that the countries’ mutual decision to conduct the majority of transactions in national currencies had significantly bolstered bilateral trade, which is on course to reach a $200 billion target this year ahead of schedule.
“While in 2021 only about a quarter of settlements between our countries were made in national currencies, last year it was almost two-thirds,” Mishustin said, pledging to continue to increase “the independence of bilateral financial cooperation and thereby strengthen economic sovereignty.”
Last month, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced that Moscow would be switching to national currencies in energy trade with all its foreign partners. He said most transactions in this sphere were mostly made in yuan and rubles already, and the country plans to abandon the euro and dollar in energy exports altogether.
Both Moscow and Beijing have stepped up efforts to reduce dependence on the dollar and euro in international trade against the backdrop of last year’s anti-Russia sanctions. President Vladimir Putin earlier suggested that the Chinese yuan should be used more widely in Russia’s foreign trade, not only in transactions with China, but also with countries in Africa and Latin America. Indian policymakers have also taken steps in recent months to shift away from the greenback to rubles and rupees in mutual trade with Moscow.
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