Russia ready to switch to national currencies in trade with Africa – deputy PM

Alexei Overchuk

ST. PETERSBURG, July 29. /TASS/: Moscow is ready to switch to national currencies in trade with African countries, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk said in an interview with TASS on the sidelines of the second Russia-Africa Summit.

"We have successful experience of settlements in national currencies within the Eurasian Economic Union and we are ready to share this experience. We are also ready to conduct trade with Africa particularly in Russian rubles, provided that economic operators find it convenient," the deputy prime minister noted.

According to Overchuk, switching to national currencies in settlements is "a global trend." "Everyone understands that the use of traditional reserve currencies as a means of payment carries obvious economic and political risks, and everyone wants to reduce these risks. This is why we see that African countries are switching to payments in national currencies," he added.