Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, asked, “Why can’t we trade in our own currencies?”
The US dollar’s role as world’s primary reserve currency for global trade was challenged at a finance summit in Paris by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defended the oversized role of US dollar in global markets.
At Paris Climate Finance summit, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appeared to support Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s call for emerging markets in the Global South to reconsider their reliance on the dollar.
Lula, who was on a panel with Ramaphosa, called for trading in domestic currencies and exploring alternative options.
‘Issue of currency’ to be discussed in BRICS summit
South African President Ramaphosa said that the “issue of currency” would be discussed at the upcoming meeting of BRICS countries later this year, which South Africa is scheduled to host in August.
The BRICS group comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
Yellen argued that finding viable replacements for a currency that has dominated trade for decades would pose challenges for countries.
“There is a very good reason why the dollar is used widely in trade and that’s because we have deep, liquid, open capital markets, rule of law and long and deep financial instruments,” she was quoted as saying by Financial Times.
The BRICS countries have been pursuing a wide range of initiatives to decrease their dependence on the dollar, raising the question of how long the dollar will last as the world’s default currency.
Support GreatGameIndia
