Russian Finance Minister on Creation of Single BRICS Currency: Not Being Discussed Now

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The share of national currencies in Russia's settlements with BRICS countries has reached 65% and this figure is growing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in late September.
Sputnik
The idea of creating a single BRICS currency is not being discussed at the moment, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told RT Arabic on Wednesday.

"We are not considering any single currency now. We are talking about creating an alternative financial settlement and payment system where national currencies would be used, where digital financial assets and digital currencies of the countries of our association would be used. By the way, many central banks are already issuing their own digital currencies. But the ... issue of calculations is just our task," Siluanov noted.

BRICS is taking this decision slowly, but when the countries reach a certain level of economic parity, this is when such a currency could float, Sameep Shastri, the vice chairman of the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Sputnik in September.
Meanwhile, the bloc is working on the creation of a depository system for the countries of the association, the Russian finance minister added.

"In addition to the settlement payment infrastructure, we have been working on the creation of the depository system of the BRICS countries. That is what it is called: BRICS-Clear... We want to create a securities accounting system within our community, similar to those that exist in Western countries, but which have become limited in possible use for Russia and for a number of other countries," Siluanov said.

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