China and Russia look to ditch dollar with new payments system in move to avoid sanctions

By Karen Yeung
22 November, 2018

China and Russia are drafting a pact to boost the use of their national currencies in bilateral and international trade, underscoring their intent to cut their reliance on the US dollar.

The development of a new international financial payments system aims to address rising concerns over additional US sanctions and trade tariffs.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, during his visit to China earlier this month, said the two nations were discussing the launch of a new cross-border system for direct payment of trade invoices in the yuan and the rouble.

He also said discussions were under way to allow the use of China’s UnionPay credit card in Russia and Russia’s Mir card in China.

“No one currency should dominate the market, because this makes all of us dependent on the economic situation in the country that issues this reserve currency, even when we are talking about a strong economy such as the United States,” Medvedev said.

Read more at https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/2174453