Johannesburg – Russian President Vladimir Putin came under fire from international reports for attacking the dollar and touting the bid for BRICS countries to forge ahead with utilising national currencies.
Putin delivered his 17-minute pre-recorded speech during the first day of the three-day BRICS Summit taking place in Sandton, Joburg.
He commended the BRICS nations for stepping up their interaction and joint work to ensure economic growth and sustainable development that brought concrete and tangible results.
He said the figures spoke for themselves, as over the past decade, mutual investment among BRICS states had increased sixfold, with overall investment in the global economy having doubled and total exports reaching 20% of the world's exports.
As for Russia, Putin said the trade volume with BRICS partners had increased by 40.5%, reaching a record of even more than 230 million.
According to the Russian president, the objectives and 'irreversible process' of de-dollarisation were gaining pace, with the country working to fine-tune effective mechanisms of mutual settlement in monetary and financial control.
He said this could already be evidenced by the steadily declining share of US dollar export and import operations within the BRICS, which by last year was standing at only 28.7%.
“This summit is to discuss the details and environment of issues relating to the transition to national currencies in all areas of economic cooperation between our five nations.
“The new BRICS development bank, which has already become a credible alternative to existing Western development institutions, has a significant role to play in these efforts.”
Despite this, reports from US media maintain that the dollar remained ‘king’, as one report by CNBC wrote that the U.S. dollar remained dominant in global forex reserves even though its share in central banks’ foreign exchange reserves had dropped from more than 70% in 1999, according to IMF data.
Political science professor Oliver Stuenkel, speaking to CNN, commented that a BRICS currency was ‘unlikely’ in the near future.
Stuenkel said other members did not want to side with Russia and simply wanted to be non-aligned but maintain productive ties with the US.
The Star