In the words of the former president of Brazil herself: "Local currencies are not alternatives to the dollar, they are alternatives to a system"
By Roberto Morejón
The need to use local currencies in commercial and other transactions, gradually replacing the U.S. dollar, has probably never been more talked about than nowadays.
The fifteenth summit of the BRICS group, that is, nations with emerging economies, included in its agenda in South Africa the debates on the aforementioned topic.
The BRICS decided to expand the bloc and to outline the guidelines for the accession of new members, in order to seek more weight in international institutions, so far dominated by the United States and European allies.
With the accession of new players, the BRICS are expected to begin to better reflect what Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva called "the new configuration of world power".
The Brazilian president himself and other leaders stressed that the original BRICS members, Brazil, China, Russia, South Africa and India, do not intend to counterbalance the Group of 7, the most developed economies of the West.
They only wish to organize themselves better internally, said Lula, but with emphasis on the use of local currencies to reduce the use of the U.S. dollar.
It is no coincidence that the New Development Bank based in the Chinese city of Shanghai uses the BRICS currencies for its operations.
Its president, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, assures that the bank will reach close to 30 percent of all its loans in this type of money.
These are not marginal trends, since they refer to a bloc with about 42 percent of the planet's population, almost 30 percent of the territory and approximately 27 percent of the World Gross Domestic Product.
According to the views of several of the leaders, by appealing to their own pecuniary signs, they are free from the risks associated with U.S. exchange rates and monetary policy. As Dilma Rousseff recalled, loans from the New Development Bank are not subject to conditions as is the case with the International Monetary Fund.In the words of the former president of Brazil herself: "Local currencies are not alternatives to the dollar, they are alternatives to a system".Along this route, a more independent path is emerging, from which the global South expects a lot.
