The formation of a shared BRICS currency, according to the head of the Russian central bank, “requires the consent of many parties.” While stressing that the planned BRICS currency “deserves attention,” the head of the Russian central bank warned that this proposal is tough and “will be quite difficult to implement.”
On BRICS currencies, the Governor of the Bank of Russia
Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of the Bank of Russia, discussed the proposed BRICS currency on July 6 and 7 in St. Petersburg during the central bank’s annual Financial Congress. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa make up the BRICS economic group.
At the next BRICS presidents’ conference in South Africa, which is set for August 22–24, it is anticipated that the BRICS currency effort would be one of the subjects covered. The concept has received a lot of attention since last week’s allegation by Russian news site RT that Russia has confirmed the BRICS would introduce a gold-backed currency. The story hasn’t been formally publicized or confirmed by any BRICS authorities, though.
The head of the Russian central bank told reporters (through Google translation) that the concept of a BRICS currency “deserves attention.” She did, however, emphasize that this initiative “would be rather difficult to implement,” stating that “like any notion of a global currency, it requires the approval of numerous stakeholders. This assignment is definitely not easy. Nabiullina went on:
As a result, we are still working and focusing on the creation of bilateral settlements using the national currency, the creation of the infrastructure that links our payment systems, and the current needs of companies.
A top official of the New Development Bank, commonly known as the BRICS Bank, declared that the development of any currency other than the U.S. dollar is a medium- to long-term goal, despite RT’s assertion that Russia has verified that the unified BRICS currency will be backed by gold. He said that “no one is currently suggesting that BRICS will form an alternative currency.” However, a lot of people anticipate that the dominance of the US dollar would decline when BRICS adopt a single currency.