Bangladesh has approved a $318 million payment to Russia using the Chinese currency Yuan, for the construction of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP).
In a meeting held last on Thursday, the Economic Relations Division (ERD) and Russian officials decided that such payments will be made in Yuan to a Chinese bank, Uttam Kumar Karmakar, head of the European affairs of ERD under the finance ministry, told UNB.
He added that although the decision has been made to use Yuan to repay the loan, the transaction has not yet been completed, as 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.
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, it is not possible to pay Russia in US dollars.
