BRICS countries should develop their own currency for trade within the bloc, Percy Morapedi Koji, Africa Economic Leadership Council co-founder and vice-president, told Sputnik.
"We need a new currency that is favorable to our own conditions. It's high time we do things the way we want to do them. We need to have the ability to choose who we want to trade with," Koji said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).
According to Koji, the new currency will help strengthen trade ties within BRICS.
"According to statistics, we will surpass the G20 by 2030," he added.
In late August, South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said that the creation of a single BRICS currency was not discussed by the group's finance ministers at the Johannesburg summit.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the summit via videoconference that the BRICS countries would move in that direction, despite the fact that "this is a very complicated issue."
During the summit, Brazilian President Lula da Silva supported the initiative. Earlier, he said that he dreams of a single BRICS currency to "gain independence from the use of US dollars in foreign trade."
At the August summit, after which the leaders decided to invite Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia to become full members of the alliance, the leaders of the BRICS countries instructed their finance ministers to examine the issue of creating a single payment system.