OREANDA-NEWS. Payments in dollars and euros still make up the lion's share in the foreign trade settlements of Russia and China, and by the end of 2018, the share of Russian-Chinese trade in national currencies - rubles and yuan - declined for the first time after rapid growth in 2014–2017. Two national currencies account for less than one fifth of all settlements in mutual trade (exports plus imports).

The government announced a policy of gradual abandonment of the dollar in international payments in 2018 in order to minimize the risks from Western sanctions. About a complete rejection of the dollar, in particular from dollar deposits, we aren't talking about, stressed First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, but the campaign should encourage exporters to switch from dollar to other currencies. To this end, by 2024, it is planned to abolish the requirement for the mandatory return of exporters' proceeds to Russia if they make settlements in rubles.

Analysis of the data on calculations with Russia's largest trading partner (China accounts for about 16% of Russian foreign trade) showed: the de-dollarization campaign in trade has not yet yielded serious results:
  • The share of payments in dollars and euros between Russia and China increased from 81.7% in 2017 to 83.1% in 2018.
  • The share of settlements in rubles and yuan decreased from 18.3% in the previous year to 16.9% in 2018.
  • The share of trade with China in dollars nevertheless declined from 77.2% to 75.8%, but on the other hand, the turnover in euro has significantly increased. As a result, the share of settlements in the euro surpassed the share in rubles - 7.3% versus 5.3%.
Payments in national currencies are increasing in dollar terms, but at a noticeably slower pace than payments in traditional reserve currencies.