South Africa’s BRICS Ambassador Anil Sooklal stated that the 10-member alliance has never discussed de-dollarization. He blamed the Western media for manufacturing the narrative and calling it the main agenda of the bloc. The South African High Commissioner was speaking at Network18’s Reforms Reloaded summit in India, along with Iceland’s Ambassador Benedikt Hoskuldsson.
Also Read: BRICS Bank Approved 120 Projects Worth $40B Mostly in Local Currencies
BRICS: De-Dollarization Was Not Our Agenda, Only Trading in Local Currencies Was
Sooklal explained that the BRICS expansion in 2023 did not sit well with a handful of Western countries, who labelled the expansion as an agenda to further de-dollarization. He cited that the alliance was only concentrating on using local currencies for cross-border transactions. The Western media painted a narrative that the alliance is challenging the US dollar.
“BRICS wasn’t well received by the global north, and it was the Western media that started the debate that BRICS has de-dollarization on its agenda,” said Sooklal. “We were looking to deepen trade in local currency and looking at alternative payment platforms, especially after the unilateral sanctions and freezing of Russian funds by the West.”
Also Read: JP Morgan Sees BRICS India as ‘Bright Spot’, Europe Says ‘We Need India’
He explained that BRICS feared that it could happen to any one of us, and therefore, sought to use local currencies instead of the US dollar. It had nothing to do with de-dollarization, he stressed. “We thought this could happen to any one of us, so we need to look at our financial systems, local trade, and local currency. Unfortunately, this was taken out of context,” he exclaimed.
The statement from Sooklal comes as BRICS is taking a U-turn from the de-dollarization agenda. The bloc is walking on a tight rope as Trump imposed tariffs on their economies. The move is making them take a different approach to cosy up to the White House. The attitude was different when Joe Biden was the President, as they walked all over his foreign policies.