Countries in trade with Russia without dollar

The emerging multi-polar world is now trying to reduce the use of the greenback in their trade after the US and EU imposed multilateral sanctions on Russia.

The US, European Union, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and the UK have imposed economic sanctions on Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February.

In March, the US and the EU cut off Russian banks from SWIFT, the global financial artery that allows the rapid transfer of money across borders.

Against this perspective, Russia invited several countries to conduct trade using their own currencies shunning the SWIFT and Bangladesh got the invitation too.

Meanwhile, efforts of Russia and China to pursue non-dollar transactions are a part of a broader de-risking strategy gaining popularity among several emerging markets, according to a Bloomberg report.

Russian coal and oil paid for in yuan is about to start flowing into China as the two countries are trying to maintain their trade amid the growing international outrage over the invasion of Ukraine.

Several Chinese firms used the local currency to buy Russian coal in March. These will be the first commodity shipments paid for in yuan since the US and Europe penalised Russia and cut several of its banks off from the international financial system.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia plans to trade some oil in the yuan, while India is exploring a rupee-rouble payment structure, the report says.

Our New Delhi correspondent Pallab Bhattacharya reports that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed the country's cross-border trade in Indian rupee on July 11 this year.

The RBI has set up a new, additional template for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports and imports in the Indian rupee.

Banks will require prior approval from the Foreign Exchange Department of the RBI for transactions under the new arrangement.

Iran announced on July 26 that the US dollar had been officially ditched in the country's trade relations with Russia while the greenback was replaced with the Russian rouble. The west Asian country also has a plan to trade in that way with Turkey, China and India.

Russia trading in other currencies is very common. In 2019, Russia moved to euros for oil supplies to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) under long-term contracts.

Now, however, the oil exports to the CNPC will be fully paid in Chinese yuan amid the sanctions from the EU.

Reuters reported recently that trading firms used by state-controlled Rosneft, a Russian oil company, for supplies to Indian refiners started asking for the dollar equivalent in dirhams this month as its government officials decided the country did not need large sums of the Indian currency for external trade.

The BRICS countries, a group of major emerging economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, are also in a discussion for expanding national currency settlements and lending to counter the weaponisation of the dollar by the US, according to a Global Times report.