DUSHANBE, November 9. /TASS/. About 75% of mutual settlements between member countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are made in Russian rubles, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexey Overchuk told TASS on Wednesday. He is now in Dushanbe to participate in the 18th meeting of the Tajik-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation.
"Today, 74-75% of mutual settlements between all countries of the Eurasian Economic Union are made in Russian rubles, and by the end of 2022 this percentage will increase, as we are switching to making payments for gas also in rubles," he said adding that this topic was discussed with the Tajik side.
Overchuk noted that this is a natural process due to the fact that the traditional reserve currency "no longer performs this function."
The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that mutual settlements must be carried out in such a way that all counterparties of transactions are sure that payments go through.
"In this respect, all the systems Russia has created to date and many banks and countries are joining, perform this function," Overchuk said.
Touching upon the start of trading in the Tajik national currency, somoni, on the stock exchanges of the Russian Federation, he explained that the transition "to direct currency pairs" is underway.
"In fact, life is going on in such a way that more and more payments are made in national currencies," he concluded.
Member-states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.