Alternative payment mechanisms in mutual trade will be addressed at the ongoing Russia-Africa summit, one of Russia’s top bankers said.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the event in St. Petersburg, Andrey Kostin, the CEO of Russia’s second-largest bank VTB, said that the US dollar had been weaponized, which is why nations will gradually move away from using it in trade.
“Structural changes are bound to happen. African countries are also acting on this. They have already started to create their own systems of information exchange and settlements in national currencies. This is a promising trend,” Kostin said, according to Azerbaycan24 website.
Russia and its trade partners among the developing nations, such as fellow BRICS members Brazil, China, India, and South Africa, have started to switch to alternative currencies in mutual trade after sanctions effectively cut Moscow off from the Western financial system.
A growing number of nations have expressed their support of the trend.