BRICS Advances Plans for ‘Multicurrency System,’ Aiming to Dethrone US Dollar

• Russia is proposing the use of multicurrency payments in BRICS to minimize the dependence upon the US dollar.

• Russia proposes using blockchain to minimize expenses and dependence on the conventional banking sector.

Russia has called on BRICS nations to establish a new cross-border payments network as part of a broader strategy to reduce dependency on the global financial system, including SWIFT. The proposal is to enhance the economic relations within the bloc and to promote intra-bloc dealings in local currencies. 

This comes in the wake of several actions taken by the US and its allies, including closing major Russian banks from the Society for World Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) and seizing Russia’s foreign assets. It is worth noting that Russia has been subjected to several severe sanctions since it launched the operation in Ukraine in February 2022. 

BRICS Multicurrency System Proposal

The Russian Finance Ministry, the Bank of Russia and the Moscow-based Yakov & Partners have submitted a report on the ‘multicurrency system’. The proposed system would shield the BRICS countries from outside threats, including sanctions that have extraterritorial jurisdiction. The report stresses that US foreign policy is not always congruent with other countries’ interests, and this is why the country needs financial independence.

The network would rely on a group of banks with international capabilities that would be able to operate in the local currencies of the BRICS countries. Further, it has been suggested that the BRICS member central banks should establish direct links to minimize the impacts of external financial pressures.

The plan also includes the establishment of new trading platforms for major goods, including oil, gas, grains, and gold, to boost trade within the BRICS countries. These measures are considered to be a broader plan for decreasing the use of the U.S. dollar in international transactions.

BRICS Members Prepare for Upcoming Summit in Kazan

While Russia has been trying to decrease its exposure to the US dollar, other members of the BRICS have remained connected to the dollar-dominated financial system. According to the Brookings Institution, the USD was used in 58% of cross-border transactions that did not involve the euro in 2022, and 54% of trade finance instruments were denominated in USD.

The release of Russia’s report comes amid preparation for the BRICS summit scheduled to take place in Kazan from the 22nd to the 24th of October. The summit will be led by President Vladimir Putin after the recent addition of Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Egypt into the bloc.

Russia also suggested in the report that DLT could further improve cross-border payments within the BRICS framework. The system would use tokens for settlements and be a multinational platform. The report notes that the major advantage of DLT is the ability to reduce credit risk.

In addition, the use of DLT can also decrease the time and the costs in the process since there are no need for correspondent banks and do compliance checks. The authors estimate that if BRICS countries use this system for half of their cross-border transactions, the total annual cost could be reduced by $15 billion.