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The government will discuss with Iraq the possibility of settling trade payments in the rupee currency, the trade minister said, in a move that will also help stabilise the troubled currency.
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is visiting India to finalise a deal to sell India more crude oil.
"Yes, we will discuss how to use our national currencies," Trade Minister Anand Sharma told reporters in response to a question on whether India was considering making rupee payments to Iraq.
The rupee, which has lost 17% since May, is leading a global selloff in emerging market currencies on fears of higher borrowing costs and tighter supplies of cheap cash from the United States.
