BRICS prepares recommendations on alternative payment systems

Moscow. The BRICS countries – a group of emerging economies founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have developed preliminary recommendations on alternative payment mechanisms that allow creating sustainable systems, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Recommendations have already been made. They are not yet definitive, but they already offer the opportunity to start creating reliable, sustainable and long-term systemsLavrov said in an interview with the TV BRICS network and trusted that Brazil, which will assume the presidency of the bloc next year, will continue this work.

A parallel system is needed as the dollar is increasingly used as an aggressive weapon in the global economy.he pointed out.

According to Lavrov, the United States will do everything possible to preserve its hegemony, so a common task of the member countries of the BRICS group is to maintain their security and create independent payment platforms.

At the end of October, at the end of the 16th Summit of the BRICS group in the city of Kazan, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the bloc will continue to intensify its interbank communication and developing payment mechanisms in national currencies.

Likewise, Putin reported that the group is not yet creating a separate payment system that would become an alternative to SWIFT (Society for World Interbank Financial Telecommunication), but indicated that it is a very important matter.

SWIFT is a platform that connects some 11,000 financial institutions from more than 200 countries and serves as the basis of the international financial system. A few years ago, it was the main payment processing system, almost all banking transactions in the world went through it. However, in 2014, when Western countries first threatened to disconnect Russia from the system, alternatives began to be created.

On January 1, Russia assumed the rotating presidency of the BRICS group for 2024, the year in which Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran joined. In this way, the group currently represents almost half of the world’s population, 40 percent of global oil production and around 25 percent of the export of goods.

New criticism from Venezuela to Brazil

The government of Venezuela, through its foreign ministry, accused Brazil this Saturday of trying cheat to the international community, a day after the administration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva denounced a offensive tone of Caracas amid growing diplomatic tensions. The differences between both countries increased after Brazil’s veto of Venezuela’s entry into the BRICS and questions about the re-election of Nicolás Maduro for a third six-year term amid complaints of opposition fraud.

With information from AFP