Riyadh: Saudi Arabia is open to discussions about trade in currencies other than the US dollar, according to the kingdom’s finance minister.

“There are no issues with discussing how we settle our trade arrangements, whether it is in the US dollar, whether it is the euro, whether it is the Saudi riyal,” Mohammed Al-Jadaan told to Bloomberg TV after the world’s elite met in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos for the 2023 World Economic Forum.

“I don’t think we are waving away or ruling out any discussion that will help improve the trade around the world,” Al-Jadaan said.

“We enjoy a very strategic relationship with China and we enjoy that same strategic relationship with other nations including the US, and we want to develop that with Europe and other countries who are willing and able to work with us,” Jadaan added.

After a 48-year relationship solely with the U.S. dollar, Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, said the kingdom is open to trading in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. The statements follow China’s president, Xi Jinping, urging the Gulf monarchs to accept yuan for oil, and Riyadh officials saying last March the country would consider accepting the Chinese currency.

Saudi Arabia, like other Gulf states, has pegged its currency to the dollar for decades. Oil sales across the globe are priced in US dollars. China accounts for more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia's crude exports. If the kingdom were to move toward a “petroyuan”, it could dent the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency.