By Asmau Ahmad with agency report
The BRICS group of leading developing countries has to develop its own currency as it will facilitate trade within the bloc, according to Percy Morapedi Koji, Africa Economic Leadership Council’s (AELC’s) co-founder and vice-president.
Koji gave the advice in an interview with Sputnik on Monday on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).
“We need a new currency. I am very much optimistic about that. We need a currency that is going to be favourable to our own terms.
“It is about time that we do things the way we want to do it. We need to be able to choose who we want to trade with,” Koji said.
The vice president also said that the creation of the bloc’s currency would lead to a significant increase in internal trade.
“I think that there are a lot of advantages in us as BRICS bloc having our own currency because it means that trade will grow within this bloc.
“So, we can even double this effort. According to the statistics, we will be better off than the G20 in 2030. So, you are looking at (it) within (the) next 6 to 8 years.
“We are looking at increasing trade within the BRICS bloc, but (we) also (have) to make sure that the terms of trade are much better,” Koji added.
In August, before the BRICS summit in South Africa, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that the gathering’s agenda was concentrated on increasing trade in national currencies of member states, which is significantly different from a common currency concept.
The idea of creating the common BRICS currency is aimed at de-dollarisation of the global economy by creating a viable alternative to the U.S. dollar.
However, the bloc’s leaders have repeatedly pointed out the complexity of the creation of a completely new currency.
They advocated the establishment of multi-currency system, which would allow participating countries to conduct trade in their respective currencies through a swap mechanism.
The 8th EEF is taking place on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University in the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok from September 10-13.
