VITEBSK, 15 July (BelTA) – The share of transactions using national currencies is close to 80% between Belarus and Russia while the share of transactions using national currencies among the Eurasian Economic Union member states is close to 75% and is expected to keep rising. Aleksei Overchuk, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, made the statement after a session of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission in Vitebsk on 15 July, BelTA has learned.
This year's events encouraged Belarus and Russia to more promptly move towards transactions in national currencies. Aleksei Overchuk said: “We already use our currencies as much as possible. Their share was already close to 80% last year. Taking into account the measures unfriendly countries are taking against Belarus and Russia, we expect the share of national currency transactions to rise. Payments for natural gas have essentially switched to Russian rubles while transactions concerning loans use [Russian] rubles, too. It can help increase the share of national currency transactions. If we talk about the Eurasian Economic Union and transactions in national currencies, the figure is close to 75%. Active work is in progress. First of all, we want to move away from recalculating exchange rates of national currencies using third-country currencies. It is necessary to work out direct pairs between our national currencies. The currency exchange is hard at work on it and such products are already being made available. The common transaction space is taking shape little by little.”
