BRICS countries are setting up a new Global Reserve Currency

Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the BRICS countries are working on setting up a new global reserve currency, based on a currency basket of the five nations.

Putin also said banks from BRICS economies can freely connect to the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), Russia’s alternative to SWIFT. The 14th BRICS summit was hosted by China, which currently holds the rotating presidency.

While addressing a BRICS business forum, Putin said that together with its partners – Brazil, India, China and South Africa – Moscow is developing reliable alternatives for international payments.

SPFS has similar functionality to SWIFT and allows the transmission of messages between financial institutions in the same format.

It was created by the Bank of Russia as an alternative to the Belgium-based system in 2014, when Moscow was hit with Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine.

In April, Russian Central Bank governor Elvira Nabiullina said most Russian lenders and 52 foreign organizations from 12 countries had received access to SPFS, and that the regulator would keep the identity of payment system members secret.

Argentina wants the BRICS emerging economies to admit it as a full member, President Alberto Fernandez said on Friday at the group’s 14th summit.

The BRICS nations, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, account for over 40% of the global population and nearly a quarter of the world’s gross domestic product.

The Argentinian head of state said the group constitutes a platform with enormous capacities to discuss and implement an agenda for the future that will lead to a better life for most people on the planet.

The institutional and economic weight of the BRICS can become a factor of financial stability. It is time to explore cooperation mechanisms, such as the currency swap that Argentina signed with China.

Fernandez added that, calling for the creation of an International Risk Rating Agency that could put in public hands what today is in the hands of private interests.

RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2022.