The BRICS member nations are jointly developing a payment and settlement framework to be used for trading within the bloc, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
During his speech at the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow on Thursday, Putin stressed that supplies of Russian oil and gas to ‘friendly’ countries allow them to ensure economic stability and compete more successfully in the global market.
However, the president acknowledged that “certain difficulties” remain when it comes to foreign nations making payments for Russian energy. Russia had been switched off from the SWIFT international banking system as part of sweeping sanctions imposed on Moscow by the West over the Ukraine conflict.
”As part of cooperation with BRICS countries, we are working to create our own payment and settlement system,” he said.
According to the Russian leader, it will allow the member states to “create conditions for the effective and independent servicing of all foreign trade” amongst themselves.
Russia is already actively switching to the use of national currencies in trading with BRICS countries and “our partners are extremely interested in this,” he said.
The share of the ruble in the country’s foreign trade operations has increased almost threefold between 2021 and 2023, Putin stressed. In the first half of this year, it stood at 39.4%, he said.
As the current chairman of BRICS, Russia is hosting the bloc’s annual summit in Kazan from October 22 to 24. On January 1, 2024, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the UAE officially became new BRICS members, joining Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Earlier this month, the New York-based Nasdaq stock exchange warned in an article on its website that BRICS nations are looking to establish a new reserve currency backed by a basket of their respective currencies.
Such a move “would likely significantly impact the US dollar, potentially leading to a decline in demand, or what's known as de-dollarization. In turn, this would have implications for the US and global economies,” the article said.