During a media briefing on Monday, India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra clarified that within the BRICS economic bloc, the idea of a shared currency among member nations is not currently a primary focus. The information was reported by the Indian news source Mint.
Vinay Kwatra said, “The substantive part of trade and economic exchanges and discussions that have been a part of BRICS discussions, have so far, in a major way, focused on how to increase trade in respective national currencies which is considerably different from a common currency concept.”
Some well-known personalities like Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, and Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia, seem to have supported the idea of a common BRICS currency, including Bangladesh, Egypt, Belarus, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia.
Lula da Silva, said during a speech in April, “I am in favor of creating, within the BRICS, a trading currency between our countries, just like the Europeans created the euro.”
Amid rumors about creating a new currency for the BRICS group, India has made its stance clear. The country’s Foreign Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, has said they don’t plan to make a new currency just for BRICS.
The upcoming BRICS summit, set to occur in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 22-24, holds significant importance as it brings together leaders from five prominent emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
Despite ongoing discussion regarding the potential establishment of a unified or shared currency among the BRICS member nations, the leading South African diplomat responsible for BRICS affairs has clarified that this specific matter will not be up for discussion during the summit.
A common currency for BRICS would give all these countries a potential combined currency to combat the USD, the potential for the common currency to become more centralized and turn to blockchain seems high.
A Centralized BRICS currency that works on the blockchain would have the potential to disrupt the hold that USD stablecoins have on the crypto market. However, it remains to be seen how these countries come together to plan for a sovereign yet combined future.
Also Read: Brazil’s New President Calls for BRICS Global Currency
