PRETORIA, February 16. /TASS/. Political will is needed for a BRICS common currency to come to fruition along with the strengthening of financial and economic cooperation among the member-states in the group, Professor of Political Science in the University of the Free State in South Africa Theo Neethling told TASS.

"Theoretically, a single currency could help BRICS member states to eliminate volatile swings in exchange rate. Furthermore, with the necessary political will it would be possible for the BRICS members to move to the creation of a single currency, based on the logic of enhancing mutual trade flows," the expert said.

"At the same time, it is difficult to come up with a time frame for the implementation of such a project and personally, I don't see this happening soon as this is a matter of work in progress," the expert noted.

The establishment of a common BRICS currency should be preceded by greater volumes of national currencies’ use in mutual trade and investments, South Africa’s Sherpa in BRICS Anil Sooklal told TASS. This is the only way of establishing the foundation for a common BRICS currency, he added.

South Africa is taking the reins of the BRICS presidency this year. An in-person BRICS leadership summit is scheduled for August 2023 in Durban.