BRICS Expansion Will Speed Up De-Dollarization, Chinese Expert Says

As more countries join the BRICS economic bloc, there will be a significant increase in settlements using national currencies, leading to an acceleration in the de-dollarization process, a Chinese expert says. “For most developing countries, development is a top priority. That is why the BRICS cooperation mechanism is attractive to these countries,” he added.

BRICS and De-Dollarization

Sun Qi, executive director of the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told Russian news outlet Tass Friday that more countries joining the BRICS economic bloc will increase the use of national currencies in settlements significantly, which will help accelerate de-dollarization. The BRICS nations comprise Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. He was quoted as saying:

As more and more countries join the ranks of BRICS + partners, the transition to settlements in local currency or third-party currencies in mutual trade will increase significantly, thereby accelerating de-dollarization.

Speaking about the upcoming BRICS summit that will take place on Aug. 22-24 in Johannesburg, Qi believes that one of the topics to be discussed is the creation of a single BRICS currency, stating: “BRICS currency, used for transactions between the BRICS countries, can be discussed in full and in detail.”

While some believe that the topic of a common BRICS currency will be discussed at the summit, including Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, South Africa’s top diplomat in charge of BRICS relations recently said that this topic is not on the agenda to be discussed at the summit. South Africa is the host of the BRICS summit this year.

Another topic that will be heavily discussed at the upcoming summit is the expansion of the economic bloc. Noting that in recent years, the BRICS expansion has been hindered by “the coronavirus pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and other factors,” Qi stressed:

For most developing countries, development is a top priority. That is why the BRICS cooperation mechanism is attractive to these countries.

According to South African officials, over 40 countries have expressed interest in joining the economic bloc, including 23 countries that have already applied.

Do you agree that more countries joining the BRICS economic bloc will accelerate de-dollarization? Let us know in the comments section below.