Belarus to expand use of Chinese UnionPay cards – deputy prime minister

September 6, BPN. Belarus will be actively introducing international payment service UnionPay, First Deputy Prime Minister Mikałaj Snapkoŭ said on September 6, after a meeting with Alaksandr Łukašenka.

Belarusian banks will also connect to CIPS, the Chinese analogue of SWIFT, Snapkoŭ added, as quoted by the government’s press office.

Finance is “one of the fundamental components of cooperation with China,” the senior official said. “Here we work very actively and positively. We are shifting to yuan in our debt payments,” he noted, apparently meaning Chinese dollar-denominated loans.

According to Snapkoŭ, Belarus’ exports to China “increased by 97 percent, and the balance of trade by almost $700 million” in the first seven months of 2022.