Brazil's President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has thrown his weight behind the creation of a BRICS currency. The BRICS group is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and is gaining significant global influence, with 19 countries seeking to join. Lula stated his support for a BRICS currency during a speech in Spain and suggested that it could be used for trading between the countries, just like the European Union uses the Euro. He made the comments while on a trip to the New Development Bank in Shanghai, which was established by BRICS countries.
Lula's call for a BRICS currency follows his statement that developing countries should stop using the US dollar and adopt local currencies instead. The BRICS nations have been pushing for greater global influence to counter Western countries' "destructive actions" as they step up their efforts to de-dollarize. Other countries such as Indonesia have followed the BRICS' lead and moved away from using the US dollar in trade settlements, opting for local currencies instead.
The issue of creating a common BRICS currency is expected to be discussed at the leaders' summit at the end of August, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. South Africa's ambassador to the group, Anil Sooklal, stated that 13 countries had formally applied to join the BRIC bloc, while six had informally expressed an interest in doing so. Lula's chief adviser on foreign policy, Celso Amorim, also suggested that China and Brazil could play important roles in building a less centralized world with no hegemony. The support of the Brazilian President for a BRICS currency may signal a significant shift in global economic power away from the US dollar and towards a more multi-polar system.
