Whatever happened to Brics common currency

The bloc may find it hard to push ahead with trade in local currencies, given the threat of punitive US tariffs

- Duvvuri Subbarao

Yet another Brics Summit has ended as a nonevent. The joint declaration at Rio de Janeiro, despite its grandstanding about multilateralism and a rules-based international order, is more notable for its political posturing: it calls for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and condemnation of Ukrainian attacks on Russian infrastructure.

The fact that geopolitics now occupies more mind space than economics in Brics is evident from the near silence in the declaration on its once-flagship initiative — a Brics common currency. The focus has quietly shifted to a more modest, though still ambitious, goal of promoting trade and settlement in local currencies.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has threatened 10% additional tariffs on Brics countries for what he labels "anti-American" policies. (And, on Monday, when the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was meeting in Beijing, he threatened 100% tariffs on Russia and secondary sanctions on countries buying oil from Russia, among them India.) His frustration is not unfounded. The Brics effort to reduce reliance on the dollar directly challenges American economic dominance. The dollar's centrality in global finance gives the US a structural advantage. As the world's primary reserve currency, the dollar allows America to borrow more cheaply in global markets. The world's demand for dollar assets effectively provides the US with an endless supply of low-cost credit. For example, if you carry $100 in your pocket, you are in effect giving America an interest-free loan of $100. That is the essence of what former French finance minister (and later president) Valéry Giscard d’Estaing famously called America's “exorbitant privilege”.