BRICS Not Focusing on Creating Common Currency, Indian Official Says

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A top Indian official has downplayed the creation of a shared BRICS currency. Emphasizing that “common currency discussions have several prerequisites before you can even talk about a common currency framework,” the official stressed that the BRICS nations have focused on boosting settlements in national currencies.

Indian Foreign Secretary on BRICS Currency

India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra explained in a media briefing on Monday that the BRICS economic bloc is not focusing on the proposed common currency for member states, Indian news outlet Mint reported. The BRICS nations are Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

“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,” the official detailed, elaborating:

You would know that common currency discussions have several prerequisites before you can even talk about a common currency framework. The discussion framework in BRICS and the substance of that discussion framework in BRICS have focused principally on trade within national currencies.

Recently, India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar similarly stated that there is no discussion of a common currency for the BRICS nations.

The economic bloc’s summit is scheduled to take place on Aug. 22-24 in Johannesburg. South Africa is the host of this year’s BRICS summit. While many people expect the BRICS leaders to discuss the creation of a shared currency, the top South African diplomat in charge of BRICS relations has affirmed that the topic of a common currency is not on the agenda to be discussed at the summit.

Some people firmly believe that the proposed common BRICS currency will dethrone the U.S. dollar and become the world’s dominant currency, including Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki. However, some are cautious, including British economist Lord Jim O’Neill, who was credited with coining the acronym BRIC. He called the proposed common currency idea “ridiculous” and “embarrassing.”

What do you think about the statements by Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra regarding the proposed common currency for the BRICS nations? Let us know in the comments section below.