MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. VTB CEO Andrey Kostin expects that the countries of the Global South will start to actively switch to settlements in national currencies with Russia this year and the next. He said this at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Of course, new digital technologies provide great opportunities. A digital ruble is being launched under the leadership of the Bank of Russia and 13 banks are participating in this. This is no longer an experiment, this is, in general, the introduction of a digital ruble into practice," Kostin said.

"And the same digital systems are gradually being created and developed by other countries. Therefore, I think that this year and the next we will see a rapid switch to settlements in national currencies in the countries of the Global South, as we call it, - in developing states, states that are friendly to us today," he added.

On Wednesday, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia Olga Skorobogatova said at a press conference in TASS that the thirteen banks that had expressed the desire to take part in digital ruble testing completed preparatory activities and will participate in the pilot starting on August 15.

The digital ruble is the third form of the national currency, which will be issued in addition to cash and non-cash funds. The digital ruble will become another means of payments and transfers. Transactions with it for citizens will be free. Citizens and companies will choose at their discretion which form of the ruble to use in this or that case.