Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the Russian Finance Ministry will not resume foreign currency purchases this year, including RMB, and will do so only if it receives additional oil and gas revenues in 2023 beyond the budgeted base.

Earlier, the finance minister did not rule out buying “friendly” foreign currencies on the market this year, he noted, referring to the purchase of RMB. In this case, Siluanov said, the excess oil and gas revenues will be calculated using the cessation of supply prices initially set in the 2022 budget, before the suspension of budget rules due to strict sanctions against Russia.

According to Business News International, Kommersant cited a report by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) as saying RMB international settlement rose 15.6 percent, compared with a 19.86 per cent increase in October.

International settlements in other currencies grew by 3.9 percent in the latest month, the report said.

RMB maintained the fifth most active currency for international payments, accounting for 2.37%. In November 2022, the RMB ranked sixth in terms of international payments outside the euro area, accounting for 1.63%.

Earlier on December 1, 2022, the Bank of Russia announced that the share of RMB trading volume in total foreign exchange transactions on Russian exchanges rose from 3% in March to 33% in November.