In July 2023, African countries significantly increased their settlements with Russia using "friendly" currencies while reducing settlements in rubles, as per the Bank of Russia's statistics on the currency composition of exports and imports settlements.
During this period, settlements between African countries and Russia in "friendly" currencies surged to 78.8%, a notable increase from 39.1% in the previous month. This marked the highest percentage since January 2021, as data before that time was not available. Concurrently, the share of settlements in rubles, which was at 48.3% in June, decreased significantly to 12.7% in July, the lowest level since June 2022.
Furthermore, the data from the Bank of Russia indicated that the proportion of settlements involving "unfriendly" currencies, primarily the US dollar and the euro, declined to 8.5% in July 2023, down from 12.6% in June. It's worth noting that back in January 2021, this figure stood at 98.2%.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Moscow-Live/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS