Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to her oral statement of 28 February 2022 on Sanctions, what estimate she has made of the proportion of Russian trade denominated in sterling.

New legislation was laid in parliament on financial measures. These measures will prevent Russian banks from clearing payments in sterling and will apply to Russia's largest bank - Sberbank. With around 75 percent of Russian trade denominated in dollars, euros or sterling, our coordinated action will damage Russia's ability to trade with the world. On average, the UK financial system clears around £0.4 billion of sterling payments to and from Russian banks daily - equating to £146 billion per annum. Stopping access to sterling will mean Russian banks cannot use UK financial markets, invest in the UK, and pay for trade in Sterling.