BRICS Financial Settlements
Paulo Nogueira Batista
Let us hope that the BRICS will confirm expectations entertained by the Global South and rise to the challenge of providing constructive alternatives for all.
The background to the recent discussions between the BRICS countries on international monetary and financial matters and, in particular, on possible joint initiatives is well-known in general. There is, first and foremost, an increasingly widespread perception that the current US dollar-centred international monetary system is becoming dysfunctional. Second, the increasing multipolarisation of the world in economic and political terms seems inconsistent with the indefinite continuation of a basically unipolar world monetary system.
Let me address these points in turn. It should be kept in mind that they are both international political economy issues, i.e., problems that are at the same time both political and economic.