South Africa’s finance minister said on Thursday that the BRICs did not plan to replace international payment systems, including Swift, but rather consider creating one that would enhance trade in local currencies.
Following a three-day BRICS summit in Johannesburg, bloc leaders announced they would instruct their finance ministers to consider issues relating to local currencies, payment instruments and platforms and report back within a year.
De-dollarization is a particular priority for Russia, whose economy has been crippled by Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine and is banned by Swift.
“It is not an alternative to Swift,” Enoch Godongwana told Reuters, welcoming the finance ministers of the BRICS countries. “It’s a payment system that makes it easy to learn more about using local currencies.”
The creation of a common BRICS currency, an idea floated by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was not on the agenda of finance ministers during the meetings, he said, adding that its implementation would be “problematic”.
“You have to have a central bank,” he said. “It has to lose the independence of its monetary policy. It’s a big challenge, which in our case would have big constitutional implications.”
Source: Terra
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