Russia to broaden scope of national currencies trade

Settlements using the Kazakh tenge, Armenian dram and Kyrgyzstani som will be discussed at the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council

Russia plans to propose expanding the use of national currencies in trade settlements between the members of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council (EAEU), news outlet RBC reported on Thursday, citing a draft of a Russian decree for the council meeting, to be held in Kyrgyzstan on August 25 and 26.

The decree offers recommendations on economic cooperation between EAEU member states – Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

According to the document, the use of national currencies in mutual trade settlements is proposed in order to enforce economic sovereignty of national economies of EAEU members amid “changes in the architecture of international trade” and “global restructuring of supply chains.”

The document also proposes to expand the interaction among the national payment-card systems of EAEU member states, so that national debit and credit cards like Russia’s Mir and the Belarusian Belkart can be freely used in all EAEU countries. Moreover, it offers to introduce an alternative in exchanging financial information between EAEU countries’ banks without using SWIFT within the framework of mutual settlements.

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According to the draft decree, the current share of national currencies in mutual settlements of the EAEU states in 2022 is 74%, and over half of the settlements are made in Russian rubles.

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