Brokers and banks of friendly or neutral nations will be allowed to trade on the Russian currency and derivative markets, the Russian government stated.
"Foreign credit organizations and brokers from friendly or neutral countries will be admitted to trading on the Russian currency market and derivatives markets," the ministry said in a statement.
The order approving the list of such states was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. It includes over 30 nations, namely Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brazil, Venezuela, Vietnam, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Qatar, China, Cuba, Malaysia, Morocco, Mongolia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkiye, and South Africa.
The measure is designed to increase the efficiency of the direct convertibility of national currencies of friendly and neutral nations as well as to form direct quotations to the ruble to meet the demand of the Russian economy for settlements in national currency, the statement read.
The rouble tumbled to a near 17-month low of 101.75 to the dollar in August, but has struggled to significantly strengthen in spite of successive interest rate hikes to 13%. Authorities are discussing reintroducing currency control measures to buttress the currency.
According to media reports, it was initially planned to admit 44 countries to the auction, including Georgia, but then the list was reduced to 32 countries.
“Georgia is not on this list, because after all, the country seems to be unfriendly, but also friendly at the same time. Georgia... must decide whether it will continue to be “friends” with the Russian Federation or not; whether it will continue to be included in this list will depend on this,” said the founder of the financial school, Andrei Plotnikov, to BFM.
In March 2022, the Russian government approved a list of unfriendly countries. The list did not include Georgia, which refused to join Western sanctions against Russia.
Source: BMG & News agencies
