Bangladesh to make loan payment for Russian nuclear plant in China’s yuan

Bangladesh has agreed to pay a loan to a Russian nuclear power plant developer in China’s yuan, as the war-related Western sanctions forced the country to move away from the US dollar, according to the Washington Post on Monday.

The transaction has not been completed yet as payment details were needed to be resolved, Uttam Kumar Karmaker, a top official in the Bangladesh Economic Relations Division, told the Washington Post.

He declined further comment, citing the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue, it said.

Bangladesh’s loan repayments were halted for more than a year after Western sanctions excluded Russian and Belarusian banks from the SWIFT international payment system.

Thanks to the deal, the payment of some $12 billion loan will be made using yuan via the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), developed by China.

The Washington Post added that a representative for Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, the Russian contractor of Bangladesh’s Rooppur nuclear power plant, confirmed the plan to use yuan for the loan repayment.

• Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS)
• developed by China.