CB: Russia Trades With EU in Dollars Below Average Comparing With All Partners

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The share of Russia's dollar-denominated payments with the countries of the European Union is lower than average with all trading partners, the country's central bank told Sputnik on Monday.

Russia's trade partner with the largest percentage of dollar-denominated payments to Russia is China with 79.2 percent, while Belarus settles the largest share of its payments to Russia in rubles, 79 percent.

In 2017, as many as 68.2 percent of payments to Russia on foreign trade contracts was in dollars, 15.6 percent in euros, 14.3 percent in rubles. At the same time, dollar settlements account for just 51.8 percent of total EU payments on foreign trade contracts with Russia, euro contracts 34 percent, and ruble contracts just 10.4 percent.

As for Russian transfers to trading partners last year, 36.3 percent of payments were made in dollars, 30.1 percent in euros, and 30.7 percent in rubles. At the same time, the EU countries received 22 percent of payments from Russia in dollars, 47.7 percent in euros and 29 percent in rubles, according to the central bank.

On Sunday, First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the ministry did not rule out it might reject dollar in oil supplies settlements because of the inconsistent US policy that undermines the stability of the dollar, and transfer to other currencies, including the euro and the ruble.