CAIRO – In a new move Russia and Egypt may use the Russian currency unit, the rouble, in their mutual trade settlements, said Egypt’s Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou on Friday.
Zaazou said that the sides were working on a mechanism of mutual settlements to abandon the U.S. dollar as a basic currency unit. Such settlements, in his words, might be made via the two countries’ Central Banks.
He said that in condition of the rouble devaluation and in a bid to encourage tourism flows from Russia the two countries might begin to use the rouble as a payments unit in the sphere of tourism and in trade in general “already in February.”
Initially, the rouble would be used to pay for tourist vouchers and travel companies’ fees. Further on, he said, these funds might be used by Cairo to pay for imports from Russia.
Egypt is currently taking all possible measures to keep the tourist flow from Russia from falling in conditions of the financial crisis. In 2014, about three million Russians visited Egypt, but the overall positive situation was marred in December, when the number of Russian vacationers in Egypt nearly halved following the rouble’s slide.
In an effort to boost tourism from Russia, Egypt cancelled visa fees for Russian tourists for a stay of four months – from January 15 to April 30. Tourists who will buy package tours to the Red Sea resorts will not have to pay a fee of 25 U.S. dollars per capita.
