National Currencies’ Share in Eurasian Trade Reaches 74%

The Eurasian Economic Commission has announced that the share of national currencies used in mutual trade between the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union reached 74% in 2022.

In a statement, the Commission said the Union’s heads of state, meeting at the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, on 25–26 August, reviewed nine topics, including how national currencies are used in mutual trade.

The leaders also announced that work on the agreement establishing a Eurasian reinsurance company has been completed.

The Intergovernmental Council also approved a list of priority transport infrastructure projects.

The official spokesperson of the Eurasian Economic Commission had said earlier that the share of payments made in the national currencies of Eurasian Economic Union member states could reach 80% this year.

Speaking to TASS, Iya Malkina said the share of national-currency payments reached 73.5% in 2021 and could rise to 80% this year, according to expert assessments.

She stressed that encouraging mutual investment and expanding the use of member states’ national currencies in mutual payments are on the agenda.

Malkina added that all the conditions for growing the share of national-currency payments are now in place, including the necessary payment and settlement infrastructure.

A joint meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Eurasian Economic Union held last year emphasized the use of national currencies to advance integration, particularly in the face of the unilateral sanctions imposed by the West and the United States.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said this June that Moscow supports the initiative to extend the interim free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran.

To preserve the current preferential trade regime with Iran, we support extending the interim agreement before the new free trade agreement enters into force, the Russian president said.

Talks on signing a full-fledged free trade agreement, including with Iran, are currently under way.