Key facts:
Using the dollar entails additional costs, a BRICS spokesman said.
All countries in the bloc are willing to use cryptocurrencies.
While the countries that make up the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa) are developing their own payment system, international trade is using the dollar less and less.
According to statements made by the Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the interstate association of BRICS, Samip Shastri, the volume of settlements in the national currencies of the member countries already exceeds the volume of settlements in dollars.
“Countries are very happy to trade using their currencies,” the official added, stressing that the use of the dollar entails additional costs that are removed when you pay directly in rubles, rupees or other local currencies.
Shastri made these comments on the sidelines of the BRICS Urban Future Forum “Cloud City” held in Russia on September 19. There he also explained that talks for the use of cryptocurrencies in cross-border payments are on the table, while await the emergence and formal launch of the group’s own system.
These statements by the BRICS official are related to those made two weeks ago by the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia, Dmitri Volvach, who highlighted the progress in the de-dollarization process carried out by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
According to Volvach 92% of cross-border payments from this association of 26 Eurasian countries – where China, Russia and Iran (of the BRICS group) also participate – are already doing so without dollars.
This is a goal that has been set since the group’s annual summit held last year in Africa, which gave rise to the of various international payment projectsincluding the use of national currencies and cryptocurrencies.
This issue of non-dollar payments has been constantly highlighted by BRICS foreign ministers, and will be the central axis of the meeting which will take place next October in Russia.
The bloc, originally founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has been clear in its goal of freeing the world from the dollar.
Thus, amid the sanctions that the West imposes on Russia, restricting access to the global payment infrastructure, developing an alternative payment has become in a key objective not only for Russians, but also for countries that continue to trade with the country.
On this subject, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that more and more countries are interested in the payment platforms that the economic bloc is preparing as alternatives to Western payment systems.
“Many are attracted by the fact that payment platforms are being developed within the BRICS that allow trading, investing and other economic operations, without depending on those who decided to weaponize the dollar and the euro,” express.
He referred to a group of 34 countries that, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, have expressed interest in join the de-dollarization plan and will be present at the Summit.
As reported by CriptoNoticias, There are several payment tools which will probably be presented at the annual BRICS meeting.
One such tool is SPFS, a Russian messaging system that would be inserted into the supranational payment platform BRICS Bridge. To the list A stablecoin is added: the gold-backed Common Account Unit (Unit). Also included is BRICS Pay, a digital payments platform launched by the group in 2018.
