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Sachs calls for abandoning dollar as US weaponizes currency

Jeffrey Sachs added that the US "used the dollar payment system as a threat point and a choke point by using the dollar payment system as an enforcement mechanism for illegal unilateral sanctions"

MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/. The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) should promote the creation of a payment system not tied to the dollar, as the US has weaponized the currency and turned it into a "mechanism for maintaining hegemonic control," American economist, professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, Jeffrey Sachs believes.

"Again, the dollar, sad to say, and in a very unwise way, became weaponized by the US in the last 20 years. Rather than seeing a dollar as a utility that the world uses for settlements, and it was such a utility, the US came to view the dollar as a mechanism for maintaining hegemonic control. <> We need a non-dollar payment system, and the BRICS is essential uniquely, so in building that non-dollar payment system," he said at a meeting of Board of Governors of the New Development Bank (NDB), which was held in Moscow. Sachs joined the meeting via video link.

Sachs added that the US "used the dollar payment system as a threat point and a choke point by using the dollar payment system as an enforcement mechanism for illegal unilateral sanctions."

"It has used the US veto in the IMF as a way to exclude countries from official financing based on US foreign policy considerations rather than objective economic and development needs. We need an alternative to this," the economist said.

Sachs also noted that BRICS "is essential uniquely in building that non-dollar payment system." He expressed hope that "the US mindset will calm down and accept multipolarity" and the ruble, yuan and Indian rupee will play a leading role in the global financial system, since "it can decrease vulnerability to geopolitical pressures."

Last year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that trust in the dollar had declined globally, its role had been undermined for many years, and the United States would have to take this into account. Later, Celso Amorim, Special Assistant to the President of Brazil for International Affairs, said in an interview with TASS that BRICS members are not opposed to the use of the US dollar in global trade, but believe it is important to develop alternative mechanisms for international settlements.

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