Russian media: "RMB becomes the main currency for Russian foreign currency payments" Russia | RMB | Russian foreign currency
According to the website of the Russian weekly "Expert" on August 1st, the Chinese yuan has become the most commonly used foreign currency for Russian businessmen to make payments this year. This is not only due to the significant increase in trade volume between Russia and China, but also because the Chinese yuan can be used to exchange for US dollars and euros.
TASS reported that in the first five months of this year, 70% of foreign currency payments and remittances made by Russian entrepreneurs were in Chinese yuan. As a result, the Chinese yuan became the most popular foreign currency among Russian entrepreneurs during this period. From June 2022 to June 2023, the amount paid by Russian entrepreneurs in RMB has been increasing every month. Russian companies need to use RMB to conduct business with China and Singapore. The Turkish lira ranks second among the foreign currencies most used by Russian entrepreneurs, and it is undoubtedly used to settle accounts with Türkiye.
Russian social activist Georgi Zaklevsky pointed out that the continuous expansion of the Chinese yuan's share in foreign currency transfer payments is a reasonable phenomenon. Now, the Chinese yuan can be used for settlement with about 30 countries, with about 60 countries using this currency as a reserve currency.
Zaklevsky believes that this situation is completely reasonable. China remains the world's largest factory and actively participates in geopolitical activities in Africa and the Pacific region. China's political stability and continuous economic growth are all conducive to further consolidating the position of the renminbi.
Alexei Poroshen, General Manager of Russia's "First Group" company, believes that it is not surprising that the renminbi will become the top foreign exchange payment currency in Russia's foreign economic activities in 2023, as 11 of Russia's 13 important banks have been sanctioned by the United States and cannot use any foreign currency for payments, and the remaining two are almost no longer engaged in payment business.
This expert pointed out that among other slightly smaller banks, there are still about 5 units of extremely small USD payment capacity that can be transferred through correspondent bank accounts opened in US financial institutions. Therefore, the renminbi has actually become the only direct payment channel for Russia's foreign economic contracts.