Pakistan Will Buy Russian Oil Using Chinese Yuan

May 8, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—According to a report in Pakistan’s English newspaper the News International, as covered by RT, Pakistan has reached an agreement to pay for urgently needed oil imports from Russia not with dollars, but with Chinese yuan. An unnamed official from Pakistan’s Ministry of Energy told the News International that the transaction would be facilitated by the Bank of China, at a price of about $50-52 per barrel.

RT explains: “In January, Moscow and Islamabad reached ‘conceptual’ agreements on supplies of Russian oil and petroleum products to Pakistan. The deal is expected to provide relief to cash-strapped Pakistan, which is facing a balance of payments crisis and critically low foreign exchange reserves.” Although RT doesn’t mention it, Pakistan is currently facing financial warfare and is being put on the rack by the IMF, as it tries to obtain a standby loan. The IMF wants Pakistan to use its dollars for one thing, and one thing only: paying its foreign debt.

This oil deal has similar characteristics to the discussions now underway between Brazil and Argentina, to figure out how that Argentina can pay for Brazilian imports with pesos, not dollars. Like Pakistan, Argentina is being slammed by financial warfare and an IMF agreement which leaves it with no dollars for actual trade, let alone investment. In the case of Argentina-Brazil, they are looking into getting guarantees from the BRICS New Development Bank for Brazilian loans/swaps to make the trade possible.