Russian officials have recently boastfully announced unprecedented successes in the fight against the US dollar’s hegemony. The Chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, shared a batch of news about the anti-dollar strategy. He proudly declared almost complete elimination of reliance on the greenback.
Investors and even ordinary citizens are so used to hearing the news that Russia has once again almost completely ditched the US dollar. However, de-dollarization is still in full swing. Yet, Russia has made some progress indeed. According to the statistics of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the savings of Russians in foreign currencies were at the lowest level in the last few years.
Nonetheless, the process is too slow. Although Russia has changed the structure of the National Welfare Fund (NWF), in general, the share of assets in dollars and euros has so far decreased to 35% from only 45%, Volodin noted. Interestingly, even settlements with such partners as China are mostly made in dollars. Funny enough, China is also trying to abandon the US dollar.
Russia is gradually moving away from dependence on the greenback. For example, within the EAEU, settlements in national currencies have soared to 74%, especially with China and Turkey, Volodin pointed out.
Given that the Joe Biden administration may impose new sanctions on Russia, the Kremlin should take measures to reduce the economy's dependence on the US dollar as soon as possible.
