Russia and Vietnam ditching dollar in trade – banking major

Trade settlements in national currencies between Russia and Vietnam have skyrocketed this year, Olga Basha, VTB’s head of international settlements, told RIA Novosti ahead of the investment forum Russia Calling 2023.

Basha noted that settlements conducted in ruble and dong between the two countries have quadrupled.

“In Vietnam, we are market makers with all the payments for the ruble-dong pair going through our joint bank,” the executive at Russia’s second-biggest lender said.

According to Basha, the Russian bank recorded an exponential growth in transactions settled in national currencies passing through VTB’s infrastructure within the subsidiaries and branches abroad. She added that the bank also works in India and China and operates a chain of banks across the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The global trend towards using national currencies in cross-border trade instead of the US dollar began to gain momentum in 2022, shortly after Ukraine-related sanctions saw Russia cut off from the Western financial system and its foreign reserves frozen.

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