BRICS Nation Russia Accelerates De-Dollarization, Says 95% of Trade With China and India Now in Local Currencies

Russia is essentially sidestepping the US dollar for nearly all of its international trade, according to one of the BRICS nation’s top officials.

According to a report from Russian state-run media Tass, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak says 90% to 95% of its trade with India and China are done with domestic currencies, rather than the dollar.

Says Novak,

“The market itself meets the need for settlements in national currencies. For example, with our friends from China and India, we have already switched to national currencies by 90-95%. This is automatic, without any purpose, because they don’t allow settlements in the respective currency, which used to be the hegemonic one.”

Novak added that settlements in national currencies don’t hinder trade between the countries.

Last week, President Trump said that BRICS, which was originally set up as an alternative global trade engine outside the US system, was designed as an “attack on the dollar.”

Reuters reports that the Kremlin rejected that assertion, saying that the coalition was simply a grouping of nations united by a shared vision of cooperation and prosperity.

The BRICS economic alliance has clocked $1 trillion worth of internal trade between its member countries, according to according to Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

Dmitriev confirmed the number on his Telegram channel.

“A major milestone, which confirms the strengthening of economic ties and the growing role of the association in the formation of a new architecture of global economy. We continue strengthening business ties, including through the BRICS Business Council, as requested by Russian President Vladimir Putin.” 

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