BRICS Currency Settlement Talks Resume in São Paulo
Member states discuss a common settlement layer for trade invoicing as dollar-clearing concerns persist, but technical and political obstacles remain formidable.
Finance ministers and central bank governors from the BRICS+ grouping gathered in São Paulo this week for the first formal working-group meeting on a proposed common cross-border settlement infrastructure.
The technical proposal under discussion stops well short of a single currency. It envisages a multilateral clearing platform that would allow trade invoicing in member-state currencies with periodic net settlement, modelled loosely on the Asian Clearing Union.
Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad characterised the meeting as "exploratory and constructive," while emphasising that no member is prepared to accept loss of monetary sovereignty.
Skepticism remains widespread among Western policy circles. Goldman Sachs, in a note circulated to clients, argued that even an operational settlement platform would do little to displace the dollar's role as the global invoicing and reserve currency in the near term.
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