Abramchenko: Russia can sell grain to Egypt for rubles
Russia and Egypt make it possible to choose food, including for rubles, Moscow successfully concluded such a deal earlier with Turkey, story RIA Novosti Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko.
According to her, Russia has not yet systematically switched to settlements in national currencies; at present, the Central Bank is working with regulators in other countries on an important mechanism for such interchangeable settlements.
“As an example, I can imagine that Turkey is just approaching food supplies when the settlements were made in rubles. The first sign was successful. We have the largest one in Egypt, yes, and we are also starting to work out such a transition with them, ”Abramchenko said, preferring that grain and oil and fat products are currently most in demand.
As the Deputy Prime Minister specified, in the future, the share in such transactions will not only Gazprombankbut also Rosselkhozbank. One of the conditions under the grain deal is the return of the Russian Agricultural Bank to the system of international settlements, Abramchenko explained.
In September 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the need to prepare the market for the transition to settlements in national currencies. He explained that any currency can be freely exchanged for rubles. The head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dmitry Patrushev, announced at the All-Russian Grain August in May that the department does not accept the transition to payment in rubles, concluding transactions in trade deals with the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
In September, it became known about the plans for income of foreign trade settlements in rubles for 2 times by 2025 – from the previous 19.5% to 40%. At night RBC learned that the government intends untie foreign trade contracts with allied countries from the dollar and resort to alternative indicators, including pegging to gold or oil.
In October, Reuters wrote that private importers in Egypt were unable to replenish stocks of wheat already imported into the country due to a shortage of US dollars and a depreciation of the Egyptian pound. This is due to the strong rise in prices for flour and non-subsidized raw bread. Egypt is the largest importer of wheat in the world, which is its supplier to the Russian market, whose share in 2021 is 69.4%.