OREANDA-NEWS  According to the results of August, the ruble became the main currency for payments for imports of goods and services from the Asian region for the first time, according to an analysis by RIA Novosti of data from the Bank of Russia.

At the end of the summer, its share in payments reached a record 43.6% against 42.9% a month earlier. At the same time, the share of the ruble exceeded the currencies of friendly countries in August by 0.6 percentage points, which allowed the Russian currency to become the main one for paying for supplies.

The last time the ruble exceeded the share of friendly currencies in imports from Asian countries was in February 2022, but then the main calculations were in "toxic" currencies.

The ruble also took a record share in payments for African goods, increasing by 0.5 percentage points to 69.9%, as well as for supplies from Oceania, where they are paid 84.3%.
In general, in August, the Russian currency began to be used in imports a little less — 44.7% against 45.9% in July. At the same time, the share of friendly currencies decreased — by 2.2 percentage points at once, to 31.2%. But the main beneficiaries were "toxic" currencies, which began to pay for 24.1% of Russian imports against 20.7% a month earlier.

This was mainly due to an increase in the share of unfriendly currencies in payments for imports from Asia (+1.1 percentage points, 13.3%), America (+8.3 percentage points, 71%) and Europe (+6.9 percentage points, 49.3%).