The establishment of sustainable payment mechanisms for bilateral trade is among the key issues that the BRICS group must discuss at the summit scheduled for next month in Johannesburg, the Russian Foreign Ministry told media on Friday.
The use of national currencies in exchanges, however, is complicated by factors such as their limited convertibility and their higher volatility against the US dollar, according to the ministry. It also recognizes that the creation of a possible common currency of the BRICS would be a "delicate" process.
Towards a new currency?
The BRICS are seeking to move further away from the US dollar in bilateral trade. The trend towards de-dollarization has gained momentum as a result of sanctions that have cut Russia off from Western financial mechanisms. Many developing countries, including the other BRICS members, China, India, Brazil and South Africa, have begun to adopt alternative currencies in trade.
Russia launched the idea of introducing a BRICS currency last year. President Putin said last June that member states were working on creating a new reserve currency based on a basket of national currencies used by the five-nation bloc.
However, a BRICS currency will not be on the agenda of the bloc's summit in South Africa, scheduled for August 22-24, said Anil Sooklal, Pretoria's goodwill ambassador for Asia and the BRICS, during a press briefing on Thursday. However, the five member countries will continue to move away from the US dollar, he reiterated.
Last week, Ashraf Patel, a senior research associate with the Institute for Global Dialogue and member of the South Africa BRICS Think Tank Network, shared with Sputnik his view on the context and possible outcomes of the establishement of BRICS currency.
"The US' 'trade wars' with China and Russian sanctions, and the G7 push for 'de-linking and de-risking' shows a formal Western policy of 'containment', very much along the lines of the Cold War period. Should the BRICS nations establish a new reserve currency, it would likely significantly impact the US dollar, potentially leading to a decline in demand, as this would mean regional basket currencies and trading that can be de-linked from the dollar. In turn, this would have implications for the US and global economies," he said.
The official also noted that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had recently expressed his support for a BRICS currency, asking: "Why can't an institution like the BRICS bank have a currency to finance trade relations between Brazil and China, between Brazil and all the other BRICS countries?"