Russia, Iran planning to ramp up settlements in national currencies - Russian deputy FM

MOSCOW. Feb 10 (Interfax) - Russia and Iran are actively cooperating in banking and are planning to ramp up the share of national currencies in mutual settlements, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said.

"We are continuing to work with Iran, while promoting trade transactions in national currencies. The share of such settlements exceeded 60% in 2021. The positive trend continued last year," Rudenko said in an interview with Interfax on Diplomatic Worker's Day.

"The interaction with Iran has been actively developing at the level of central banks and credit institutions," he said.

"The establishment of a direct communication channel between Russian and Iranian banks through synchronization of national financial messaging systems, the SPFS and the SEPAM, was put on paper in late January of this year," Rudenko said.

Russia has "a systemic approach to increasing the number of transactions in national currencies with other interested partners," he said.

According to the Russian Central Bank, "the share of ruble in the Russian foreign trade grew from 12.3% to 32.4%, while the share of Chinese yuan increased from 0.4% to 14% as a result of trade refocusing on Asia and the payment unit change in contracts, primarily those with companies from China" within nine months of 2022, Rudenko said.

"Another important step in this area is the SCO roadmap adopted last year to increase the share of national currencies in mutual settlements with a view to strengthening financial stability of member states and reducing the dependence of their economies on external factors," he said.