China sees complications with mutual settlements remitted at 90% in nat'l currencies for Russian oil

MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax) - China sees difficulties for several of its domestic companies regarding remitting payments for Russian energy resources, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the Russian Federation Zhang Hanhui told reporters.

"Several channels have been closed," Zhang Hanhui said, noting that several companies are rendering payments, though others are experiencing complications, as payments are remitted through banks.

Zhang Hanhui said that China had previously proposed creating a development bank for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries, or utilizing non-currency payments, though this has not happened to date.

Zhang Hanhui also said that settlements are currently remitted at about 90% in national currencies, noting that the interest is very high for Chinese companies to buy Russian oil.

"There are many private companies that are very large enterprises, and they want to buy Russian oil in addition to state-owned enterprises," he said.