Photo: VCG

Amid Russia's de-dollarization efforts, the Chinese yuan's share in China-Russia bilateral trade has risen from 3.1 percent in 2014 to 17.5 percent in 2020, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said in an interview with Russian media.

Russia, China and other countries have embarked on de-dollarization efforts in recent years by using their own currencies in transactions instead of the US dollar, as they are faced with a series of damaging sanctions by Washington and potential blockade to the dollar-dominated global payment system, or SWIFT.

Meanwhile, the Renminbi has so far accounted for 30.4 percent of Russia's National Wealth Fund's holdings, and 12.8 percent of Russia's reserve assets, Ambassador Zhang said. 

"These changes have demonstrated the yuans' inherent advantage and usage potential in the Russian market, showing China and Russia have made positive progress in the diversification of bilateral trade settlement," said the ambassador, noting that the expansion in local currencies settlement is a key aspect in China-Russia financial cooperation and conducive to building a more flexible and resilient international currency system. 

In terms of bilateral trade volume, for which the two countries had agreed to push for expansion aggressively, the ambassador said he is eyeing a new historic record this year. In the first half of 2021, bilateral trade reached $63.08 billion, up 28.2 percent year-on-year.

From 2018 to 2020, China-Russia annual bilateral trade had exceeded the mark of $100 billion for three years in a row. 

Global Times