RBC: Russian authorities decided to decouple trade with friendly countries from the dollar

The authorities decided to decouple foreign trade contracts with friendly countries from the dollar. To determine the exchange rate of national currencies, the use of a basket of currencies is considered, as well as pegging currencies to gold or oil. About it RBC said an unnamed financial market source and confirmed by a federal official.

The initiative is being worked out in the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance and Russian banks. According to RBC’s source, oil prices are also pegged to the dollar, which is not the best option. He added that pegging exchange rates to gold is considered “exotic”. The interlocutor also noted that the set of currencies that could be included in the basket is still unclear, it should correspond to the structure of Russia’s foreign trade turnover.

According to another source of the agency, the yuan can be used as an alternative to the dollar. However, according to him, the yuan is not a freely convertible currency, and permission from China is also required to use it.

“Now a significant part of the foreign trade turnover remains in dollars, but the foreign exchange market has broken up into separate segments – where sellers and buyers of currency meet each other. And that’s the problem. It is precisely here that the constructions of the formation of the foreign exchange market arise, on which we are currently working, ”said one of RBC’s interlocutors.

October 14 Russian President Vladimir Putin declaredthat the CIS countries are making “vigorous efforts” to switch to settlements in national currencies. October 13 Minister for Energy and Infrastructure of the Eurasian Economic Commission Arzybek Kozhoshev informedthat almost all countries of the Eurasian Economic Union have agreed on the transition to paying for gas in rubles. The abandonment of the dollar in settlements in trade began to be discussed by the Russian authorities after sanctions against Russia were introduced in response to the military operation in Ukraine.

More details – in the material “Kommersant” “EAEU is preparing for a currency exchange”.

Olesya Pavlenko