Turkey plans to buy Russian energy carriers for its currency
Turkey and Russia will discuss abandoning the dollar in payments for Russian energy carriers, sources told Bloomberg.
According to them, Ankara expects that the transfer of payments to lira will help slow down the reduction of its gold and foreign reserves. Moscow, in turn, will be able to receive currency that is safer from the point of view of sanctions and finance the purchase of goods and services from Turkish suppliers.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will discuss payment for Russian energy imports in currencies other than the US dollar at a meeting with Putin on July 20 in Tehran.
One of the officials specified that the analyzed mechanism could allow Ankara to use Turkish lira to import energy carriers, saving its foreign exchange reserves. And payments in Turkish currency can be used by Moscow to finance Russian purchases of goods and services from Turkish suppliers. Rubles should also become part of any trade agreement between the two countries, the interlocutor of the agency emphasized.
In 2021, Russia provided a quarter of Turkey’s crude oil imports and about 45% of its natural gas purchases. This creates a huge surplus in bilateral trade: Turkey’s exports to Russia last year were $6.5 billion, and imports from Russia were $29 billion.
