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CIS Will Pay Oil, Gas Bill in Rubles
Heads of national banks and finance ministers from the CIS countries will discuss the use of the ruble to settle accounts with Russia for energy deliveries. Currently, payments are made in dollars, which are then converted into rubles in Russia. The extra expense of converting currency is reflected in the oil and gas prices, so the change would be beneficial to the importers.
The change would also give the ruble a big boost as a regional currency, since the majority of the countries of the former USSR are consumers of Russian energy sources. So far, only Belarus has made the decision to pay for the oil and natural gas it receives from Russia in rubles. That decision was made as part of an agreement on a new state credit for $2 billion, which Moscow is providing Minsk in 2008 and 2009 for 15 years. Belarus is receiving the credit to support its trade balance, with Russia as well as other countries.
Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Kobyakov called the transition to ruble payments “our contribution to granting the ruble the status of regional reserve currency” after that agreement was signed. Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin also signed that agreement. He noted that several companies already use the ruble in accounts with Russia. “We plan to expand the sphere of the use of the ruble so that it was stipulated in interstate agreements,” Kudrin stated. “Our task is to make that profitable.”
www.kommersant.com
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Photo: Oleg Kharseev