Russia mulls to sell wheat for Egypt using rubles instead of dollars

Russia is considering selling wheat to Egypt in exchange for Russian rubles in lieu of the U.S. dollar, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko told RIA Novosti on Monday.

Russian Central Bank is now negotiating with the regulators of other countries on the mechanism of such mutual settlements, Abramchenko added.

Abramchenko continued that the bank’s announcement marked an important step in Russia’s plan to collect payments for commodity sales in its domestic currency.

Egypt would benefit from switching to paying for grain imports in rubles since it may assist in tempering the rise in the dollar’s value relative to its national currency, said Youmna El Hamaki economics professor at Cairo’s Ain Shams University.

“As a last example, I can cite just a deal with Türkiye on food supplies, when the payments were made in rubles. The first swallow was successful. We are also starting to work out such a transition with them [Egypt],” said Abramchenko.

Last November, Turkey has started paying for some of its natural gas from Russia in rubles, according to Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez.

Russia and some members of the Eurasian Economic Council already use national currencies in international trade transactions. Moscow has currency swap agreements with countries under U.S. sanctions, such as China and Iran.