Dhaka Bureau: Bangladesh has been included in the list of friends and neutral countries of Russia. Banks and broker houses of “friendly and neutral” countries will be able to trade in the Russian currency market. More than 30 ‘Friendly and Neutral’ countries, including Bangladesh, have received this permission. The Russian Embassy in Dhaka has posted about this on Facebook. Russia considers countries that have imposed sanctions on Moscow after the attack on Ukraine as ‘friends’. Among the countries on Moscow’s list of friendly and neutral countries are many Central Asian countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. In addition, many countries have been known as allies of Russia for a long time.
According to a Reuters report, due to Russia’s inclusion in the list of friendly and neutral countries, the approval of the list by the Russian government will allow the banks and broker houses of Bangladesh to trade in that country’s currency market. Russia made the decision at a time when the ruble is at its weakest level in 17 months, the report said. The country raised interest rates up to 13 percent to shore up the currency. Russia’s economy has also been under pressure since the attack on Ukraine, with the country’s currency, the ruble, weakening.
Meanwhile, the country’s Moscow Exchange House has started trading in the UAE dirham and the Russian ruble as of September 25. However, these transactions will be settled in rubles. The countries that are included in the list of friendly and neutral countries of Russia are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Brazil, China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Qatar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
However, Russia has previously excluded five countries and territories from the draft list. These are Argentina, Hong Kong, Israel, Mexico, and Moldova. In this regard, officials related to the banking sector of Bangladesh said that now if a bank wants to do business in Russian currency, Bangladesh Bank can check and give permission. However, the banks of Bangladesh are not doing any such business in any other country. And if you want to do import-export business with the country, you have to get permission to open a Nostro account in rubles.
After that, approval is to be taken on a case-by-case basis. Incidentally, more than 90 percent of Bangladesh’s import-export transactions are in US dollars. Apart from this, some transactions are done in the Euro, Pound, Australian Dollar, Chinese Yuan, and Canadian Dollar. Apart from this, trade in taka-rupee has started with India under special arrangements. In this case, if there is export income in rupees, only imports are going to be in rupees.
