Bangladesh has recently approved payment of USD $318 million for payment to Russia in the Chinese currency of yuan for construction of the Rooppur nuclear power plant.
A meeting held recently between the Economic Relations Division and Russian officials decided that the payment will be made in yuan at a Chinese bank account, Uttam Kumar Karmkar, head of the European affairs of Economic Relations Division (ERD), Ministry of Finance confirmed to UNB.
He said that the decision was taken to use the Chinese currency yuan for debt repayment at a meeting of the ERD last Thursday.
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He said that although the decision has been taken to use Chinese currency to repay the loan, the transaction has not yet been completed. Payment details need to be clarified and resolved.
Citing the diplomatic sensitivity of the matter, he declined to comment further.
Dhaka's decision seems to have resolved the problem of making any payment to sanctions-hit Russia in the US dollar.
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Last year, Western countries excluded Russia from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, or SWIFT, one of the world's payment systems, due to its military invasion in Ukraine.
The Rooppur nuclear power plant is being built in Bangladesh with a loan from Russia. But due to sanctions on Russia, it is not possible to pay in US dollars.