Yuan payments for Russian exports jump to one-third of total - c.bank chief

Use of the Chinese yuan to pay for Russian exports has increased 86 times to 34.5% of total payments over the past two years, Russia's Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina told Russian state news agency RIA in an interview published on Tuesday.

Use of the Chinese yuan to pay for Russian exports has increased 86 times to 34.5% of total payments over the past two years, Russia's Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina told Russian state news agency RIA in an interview published on Tuesday. The comments were Nabiullina's first public remarks after she cancelled several scheduled appearances and amid media speculation about her health. She said use of the Chinese currency in Russian imports payments had also risen sharply, up eightfold to 36.4% over the same period.

"Our foreign economic activity is very actively switching to the use of other (than dollar) currencies, primarily the yuan," Nabiullina said. It was not clear when the interview was conducted but any news suggesting Nabiullina may be back at work is important for investors, given the power the central bank wields over the rouble rate through its capital controls, and over the economy in general with banking regulations and interest rates.

The 60-year-old central bank governor is credited with ensuring Russia's economic stability after the West imposed the toughest ever sanctions on a major economy in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the wake of the invasion, Moscow has shifted towards non-Western markets, especially China, seeking stronger political and economic support.

China-Russia dollar-denominated trade hit $240.1 billion in 2023, growing 26.3% from a year earlier, according to the data by China's General Administration of Customs. The share of BRICS countries in Russia's trade balance has doubled in the past two years to nearly 40% of the total, Nabiullina said.

On Jan. 1, Russia became the chairman of the BRICS bloc of developing countries, which originally comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The grouping has this year admitted Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.