Bank of Russia: the yuan will become the main foreign currency in Russia

After the imposition of US sanctions, which forced the Moscow Exchange to stop trading dollars and euros, Russia adopted the yuan-ruble exchange rate as the main benchmark. Currently, according to the Central Bank, the PRC currency accounts for 54% of transactions in the country.

The central bank announced on Thursday that the yuan/ruble pair will become the base currency pair after the termination of trading USD/RUB and EUR/RUB on the Moscow Stock Exchange. This caused confusion due to the opacity of the exchange rate. Some banks have completely stopped selling dollars, and the dollar-ruble exchange rate has risen sharply.

Experts note that the role of the dollar and the euro in Russia has consistently declined over the past two years. The central bank stressed that the yuan is now the main currency on the Moscow Exchange, which will set the trajectory for other currency pairs and will become a guideline for market participants in using «friendly currencies».

According to representatives of the department, the currencies of the «friendly countries» and the ruble now account for up to 80% of Russia's foreign trade payments.