Ambassador Eduardo Paes Saboia, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry’s Secretary for Asia and the Pacific, reported in an Aug. 16 pre-summit Foreign Ministry press briefing that the use of local currencies for transactions among the BRICS countries and the possibility of establishing a BRICS unit of account are on the agenda of the closed-door leaders’ “retreat” at the BRICS Summit in South Africa later this week. Brazil, for one, will raise the idea, he noted, and it is “probable that there will be a result in this area.”
According to a report today by Jamil Chade, CanalUOL journalist and well-connected to the Foreign Ministry, President Lula da Silva will bring up the idea of initiating studies as to whether and how to establish such a unit of account among the currencies of the five members of the BRICS. “The goal is, that once the work is done, the alliance can then determine whether there is room to establish a currency that allows trade to take place without using the dollar.” Chade added: “The first step, however, would be to establish a kind of unit of account for value. The project already has the explicit support of the Russians and is viewed sympathetically by China.”
The timetable envisioned by his sources for carrying this out is far from immediate, ignoring that the current global financial system is already disintegrating, and at an accelerating rate. Chade’s sources suggest the feasibility studies would be completed by 2025, when Brazil is scheduled to assume the presidency of the BRICS, and only later enacted. (https://noticias.uol.com.br/colunas/jamil-chade/2023/08/21/brasil-vai-propor-embriao-de-moeda-dos-brics-em-cupula.htm)
Immediately following his report on Foreign Ministry plans, Chade then detailed, at length, the presentation by Brazilian economist Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr. at the seminar in South Africa, reported separately by this news service.
To keep in mind: Ambassador Saboia reported in his briefing that two documents are to come out of the summit—one an outline of the principles and criteria for expanding the BRICS, the other a final declaration. The content of neither is yet known, because that is what will be discussed among the leaders in their “retreat.” He assured reporters, however, that the discussion in that “retreat” will be “much richer” than what will appear in the final declaration. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZVMjyckvlc&t=1350s)
