EEU to ditch US dollar from its trade statistic calculations

According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is going to drop the U.S. dollar it is used for the calculation of its trade statistics and switch to another currency, the Izvestiya newspaper reported.

Lavrov also called the EEU one of the fastest-developing organizations in the world.

«There are about 185 million consumers in the EEU with a gross income of $2 trillion. We need to switch to other currencies in calculations of our trade, although we are still doing this in U.S. dollars because of inertia. No doubt this will change,» Lavrov said during a conference Eurasian Choice as a Basis for Strengthening Sovereignty.

The Russian official said that Vietnam and Singapore have already signed trade agreements with the EEU, while Iran and Egypt are expected to do so in the near future. Moreover, the EEU is planning to start trade negotiations with India, Indonesia and the UAE.

In December 2020, during a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, Uzbekistan received the status of observer in the EEU. This year, the country reported a 40% increase in trade with EEU member-states.