The reduction in the share of Russian exports in dollars to below 50% in the fourth quarter of 2020 means only that partner countries prefer settlements in national currencies, but does not abolish the use of the US currency as the main mechanism for payments and settlements. Anna Bodrova, a senior analyst at the Alpari Information and Analytical Center, told Izvestia about this on Tuesday, April 27.
According to her, for mutual settlements with partner states in national currencies “a lot of efforts have been made at all levels, it is convenient and fast.”
Bodrova noted that Russia’s reduction of settlement in dollars “by and large does not mean anything”, since the share of the dollar as the world currency of reservation and settlement “is gradually decreasing, it lasts for decades, but the picture does not fundamentally change.”
“At the moment, neither the euro, nor the yuan, nor any other currency can compete with the dollar in world settlements,” she stated.
The analyst doubts that the share of the euro in the calculations will “grow rapidly” in the future, since the eurozone “has its own risks that can be extrapolated to the currency.” On average, she said, the share of the European currency can grow by 2-3 percentage points per year, which will be “a very impressive result.”
Bloomberg reported yesterday that Russia reduced its share of its exports in dollars for the first time to below 50% in the fourth quarter of last year. The agency believes that this was the result of numerous sanctions, which prompted Moscow to isolate the economy from the influence of Washington.
Earlier, on April 13, Georgy Ostapkovich, director of the HSE Center for Business Studies, told Izvestia that the de-dollarization of the economy and Russia’s transition to rubles and alternative currencies in settlements with foreign countries would be possible only if the world agreed on mutual settlements in another currency …
As reported on April 15, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova noted that the actions of the United States questioned the advisability of using the dollar and the reliability of payment mechanisms controlled by the West as priorities.