Finance ministers and central bank governors of Brics nations have been tasked with considering the modalities of trading in local currencies.
On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is chairing the 15th Brics summit in Johannesburg, said: “The summit agreed to task the Brics finance ministers and/or central bank governors, as appropriate, to consider the issue of local currencies, payment instruments and platforms and report back to the Brics leaders by the next summit.”
Earlier, Ramaphosa announced Brics had decided to expand the bloc with the addition of Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as full members from January 1 2024.
Ramaphosa said the summit noted an unbalanced recovery from the hardship of the Covid-19 pandemic was worsening inequality across the world.
“We encourage multilateral financial institutions and international organisations to play a constructive role in building global consensus on economic policies.
“We have noted there is global momentum for the use of local currencies, alternative financial arrangements and alternative payment systems.”
He said the bloc was ready to explore opportunities for improving the stability, reliability and fairness of the global financial architecture.
The meeting also reaffirmed the importance of Brics people-to-people exchanges to enhance mutual understanding, friendship and co-operation.
TimesLIVE
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