India refiners pays Chinese yuan for Russian oil imports amid sanctions

Per Reuters

Because of the sanctions around the US dollar, Moscow and other countries are looking for alternatives to the America's currency to settle payments. This has opened the door for the use of the Chinese yuan.

Indian refiners are now paying for their Russian oil imports in Chinese yuan. This is India is starting to become Russia's largest buyer of seaborne oil.

A source from the Indian government explained this phenomenon.

"Some refiners are paying in other currencies like yuan if banks are not willing to settle trade in dollars... First preference is to pay in dollars but refiners sometimes pay in other currencies such as dirham and yuan when sellers ask them,"

The source did not give an estimation as to how much Russian oil was bought with the use of Chinese yuan. However, it was noted that the Chinese currency was used on multiple occasions to pay for many cargoes.

In April, it was reported that the Chinese yuan surpassed the US dollar as the most commonly used currency for cross-border transactions in China.

Countries like Argentina have already noted that they would start to pay for Chinese imports in yuan and not in dollars. This was for an approximately $1 billion worth of Chinese imports.

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Reuters