Abramchenko: Russia may start selling grain to Egypt for rubles

Russia and Egypt are exploring the possibility of supplying food, including grain, for rubles, Moscow successfully concluded such a deal with Turkey earlier, told RIA Novosti Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko.

According to her, Russia has not yet systematically switched to settlements in national currencies, now the Central Bank is negotiating with the regulators of other countries on the mechanism of such mutual settlements.

“As a last example, I can cite just a deal with Turkey on food supplies, when the payments were made in rubles. The first swallow was successful. Egypt is our largest, yes, and we are also starting to work out such a transition with them, ”said Abramchenko, adding that now grain and oil and fat products are most in demand.

As the Deputy Prime Minister clarified, in the future, not only Gazprombankbut also Rosselkhozbank. One of the conditions under the grain deal is the return of the Russian Agricultural Bank to the system of international settlements, Abramchenko explained.

In April 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the need to prepare the market for the transition to settlements in national currencies. He explained that in this way any currency can be freely and in any amount exchanged for rubles. The head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dmitry Patrushev, at the All-Russian Grain Forum in May, said that the department does not exclude the transition to payment in rubles for grain as part of tenders in trade with the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

In September, it became known about the government’s plans to double the share of foreign trade settlements in rubles by 2025, from last year’s 19.5% to 40%. In November RBC learned that the government intends untie foreign trade contracts with friendly countries from the dollar and resort to alternative indicators, including pegging to gold or oil.

In October, Reuters reported that private importers in Egypt were unable to replenish stocks of wheat already imported into the country due to a shortage of US dollars and a depreciation of the Egyptian pound. This leads to a strong increase in the price of flour and non-state-subsidized bread. Egypt is the largest importer of wheat in the world, and the main supplier to its market is Russia, whose share in 2021 was 69.4%.