BRICS: Towards a new currency for international settlements?
The proposed currency could be backed not only by gold, but also by other products or by rare earth elements, a group of metals with similar properties.
The BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, South Africa, India and China) is considering creating a new currency that would challenge the dominance of the US dollar as the main means of international settlement, according to information gathered in Johannesburg on Friday.
In a move seen as an attempt by the group to reduce its members’ exposure to manipulation and other punitive actions by the West, officials from the five member states would work on the modalities of the proposed currency.
According to the vice-president of the Duma (the Russian Parliament), Alexander Babakov, the BRICS countries are working on creating a new form of currency and are expected to put forward ideas on its development at the organization’s next summit in South Africa in August.
“The transition to settlements in national currencies is the first step. The next step is to allow the circulation of a digital currency or any other fundamentally new form of currency in the near future,” the Russian parliamentarian assured on the sidelines of the business forum of the Russian-Indian strategic partnership for development and growth, in New Delhi.
He added that the proposed currency could be backed not only by gold, but also by other products or by rare earth elements, a group of metals with similar properties.
He did not rule out the possibility of the emergence of a single currency within the BRICS.
The BRICS group comprises the world’s largest developing economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and several other countries have expressed interest in joining this economic bloc, including Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The proposal to create a new currency comes at a time when Western countries, Russia and China are striving to win the hearts and minds of African leaders.
This rush follows tensions between the West and Russia over the war in Ukraine and between the United States and China over Taiwan. APA
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