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Russian official expects no quick decisions on common BRICS currency

Just look at how long it took the European Union to create the euro and the existing payment tool," Vladimir Ilyichev noted

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development does not expect any "quick breakthroughs" in the creation of a common currency of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), Deputy Economic Development Minister Vladimir Ilyichev said in an interview with CGTN.

"The BRICS group’s economy accounts for about 25% of global GDP. In our view, it needs an independent payment tool. Discussions of a BRICS currency are relevant. However, the creation of new currencies and payment tools is never a quick process. We don’t expect any quick breakthroughs here. Just look at how long it took the European Union to create the euro and the existing payment tool," Ilyichev noted.

He added that at first, there could be agreements on a currency or a basket of currencies, as well as the establishment of payment systems that would make it possible to perform payments between BRICS nations based on a set of solutions comparing currency rates.

More and more countries can see that the existing global financial system, including the payment one, is not always used only for economic purposes. In the current situation, Western countries exert much influence on the system for political reasons, Ilyichev stressed. According to him, it causes concern not only to BRICS member states, but also to Arab and Southeast Asian nations.

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