Russia’s Move To ‘Ditch The Dollar’ Gathers Steam

Riyaz Patel

Russia has nearly halved the share of trade in US dollar terms with India and China, while continuing to reduce the use of the greenback in deals with the EU and BRICS countries.

It’s the first time the dollar has lost its leading position in Russia’s export trade with its main trading partners.

Russian Central bank figures show that at the end of the first quarter of 2019, more than 75 percent of Russian exports to India were paid for in rubles.

Local currency trade has nearly quadrupled compared to the same period last year and more than doubled since the end of 2018.

In transactions with China, the total share of rubles and euros overtook the dollar. Thus, transactions in euros skyrocketed from 0.7 percent in the first three months last year to the current 37.6 percent, while the share of rubles rose almost three percent to