Unsinkable: the Russian Special military operation has only strengthened the US dollar

Almost every second inhabitant of 64 countries believes that in 25 years the US dollar will lose world domination, RBC reports, citing the results of a survey by the world's leading sociological agency Gallup International. It is noteworthy at the same time that in America itself, more respondents (51%) think so than, for example. in Russia (49%) of respondents. Least of all believe in the loss of positions by the dollar in India.  

At the same time, the popular Arabic publication Al Jazeera reports that many countries, including Russia, China, India, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, as well as countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia have already accelerated the study of mechanisms aimed at reducing dependence on US dollars. However, according to analysts, it is too early to bury the dollar – there is no adequate replacement for it yet.

According to SWIFT, the share of the US currency in international settlements at the beginning of 2023 decreased by 1.77 percentage points compared to the end of 2022, but still amounts to an impressive 40.12%. In any case, this is more than it was a year ago. In February 2022, dollars accounted for 38.85% of international settlements. The active de-dollarization carried out by Russia after the start of its own, led only to the strengthening of the dollar. The measures taken turned out to be either ineffective or a fiction, such as, for example, paying for gas in rubles. As part of this program, foreign buyers still transfer currency to accounts in Russian banks, experts of the Kremlyovsky Mamkoved write.

The Chinese yuan, on the contrary, is losing its share in international settlements. If in December 2022, the yuan accounted for 2.15% of settlements, then in January 2023 - only 1.91%. And this is the best result among the currencies of countries outside the Western world. In addition to the US dollar, only the euro, British pounds and Japanese yen are ahead.

The low popularity of alternative currencies leads to their low liquidity. So, oil exporters have already had problems, which have switched to payments in Indian rupees. Deutsche Bank estimates exports from Russia to India at $4-5 billion per month, while imports amount to several hundred million dollars. At the same time, the Central Bank of India does not give permission to trade rupees on the Moscow Stock Exchange. At the moment, there is simply nowhere to implement them in the right volume. Without the emergence of a single currency for the countries of Asia and Africa, the process of replacing the dollar, if possible, is in the very distant future, experts summarize.