BRICS Plan to Abandon U.S. Dollar Will Hurt U.S. and Help Gold

"Frustrated with what they viewed as being ignored by the West and not having a prominent role in institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (also known as the BRICS countries) have held their second summit...

The BRICS countries represent 40% of the world’s population and 20% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP)…[and] are growing their portion of world GDP faster than the West, which means that, even in a decade, the BRICS countries are going to represent a lot more than 20% of the world’s GDP.
The BRICS countries emerged from their meetings in New Delhi to declare that:

1. trade between their countries would take place in their own currencies, doing away with the use of the reserve U.S. dollar,
2. trade among the BRICS countries themselves would be increased in order to reduce the influence of exporting to countries in Europe and to the U.S. (Trade among the BRICS countries is growing at a 28% annual rate and is expected to double in just a few years from the $230 billion worth of trade being transacted today in the BRICS countries, increasing their GDP influence.)
3. their finance ministers would study the possibility of creating a BRICS development bank that would offer an alternative to the U.S.-dominated World Bank and report back with a proposal at next year’s summit. The proposed development bank would allow not only member BRICS countries to apply for loans for infrastructure projects and other development initiatives, but also all developing countries in the world..."

at http://www.munknee.com/2012/04/brics-plan-to-abandon-u-s-dollar-will-hurt-u-s-and-help-gold/

Gold & Silver Acceptance Growing as Distrust in US Increases

"“I believe the concept of a BRIC’s Bank is a good idea. The move to have more multi-lateral competition in the world is appropriate. The fact that it’s being backed by the World Bank is something the BRIC countries need to be worried about.”

Rick Rule continues:

“If you are going for backing from the institution you are trying to supplant, caution flags are raised. What I will be interested to see is how politicized the lending portfolio of the BRIC Bank will be. Certainly it couldn’t be worse for the world economy than the World Bank has been over time.

This whole situation is indicative of the fact that societies are increasingly distrustful of the United States and to a lesser degree, the West’s control of the world economy. This also points to the fact that there are arrangements taking place that will eventually deny the US of seigniorage..."

at http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/4/3_Gold_%26_Silver_Acceptance_Growing_as_Distrust_in_US_Increases.html

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BRICs Bank To Rival World Bank And IMF And Challenge Dollar Dominance

"Leaders of the BRICS nations meeting in India appear to have made much progress in creating a new global bank as the emerging economies seek to convert their growing economic might into collective diplomatic influence.

The five countries now account for nearly 28% of the global economy, a figure that is expected to continue to grow.

On Thursday morning, President Hu Jintao of China, President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia , President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India shook hands at the start of the one day meeting in New Delhi.

Top of the agenda was the creation of the grouping's first institution, a so-called "BRICS Bank" that would fund development projects and infrastructure in developing nations.

The initiative would allow the countries to pool resources for infrastructure improvements, and could also be used in the longer term as a vehicle for lending during global financial crises such as the one in Europe, officials said.

Less noticed and commented upon is the aspirations of the BRIC nations to become less dependent on the global reserve currency, the dollar and to position their own currencies as internationally traded currencies.

The leaders of BRIC nations and other emerging market nations have adopted the idea of conducting trade between the five nations in their own currencies. Two agreements, signed among the development banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, say that local currency loans will be made available for trade between these countries.

The five fast growing nations participating in local currency trade will allow participants to diversify their foreign exchange reserves, hedging against the growing risk of a euro or dollar crisis.

The BRICS want to have easy convertibility of currency to make it easier to use the real, ruble, rupee, renminbi and rand amongst themselves without having to always use the US dollar. Higher intra-Brics trade, conducted in their own currencies would shield their economies from economic dislocations in the west.

In the long run, if global dependence and exposure to the dollar is to be reduced, then the BRICs currencies will have to trade amongst themselves, creating an intra Brics currency market. This could lead to a special reserve BRICs currency that could rival the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and in time a regional currency could emerge. However, the EU's experience of a single currency may make this less likely..."

at  http://www.zerohedge.com/news/brics-bank-rival-world-bank-and-imf-and-challenge-dollar-dominance

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BRICS Threaten To Withhold IMF Funding Unless They Get More Voting Power

"The BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - have agreed to provide credit to each other in local currencies. Officials say the deal will facilitate economic growth in times of crisis.
­The currency swap deal is aimed at promoting trade and investment in local currencies as well as to cut transaction costs. It’s also seen as a step to replace the dollar as a reserve currency in trade between BRICS.

“The idea is in line with many interests and economic exigencies in the world economy,” Yaroslav Lissovolik, the chief economist at Deutsche Bank told RT. “The euro and dollar are no longer seen as unquestionable monopolies in the role of reserve currencies. Clearly the world needs more reserve currencies.”
The deal would also increase the BRICS influence on the international arena and will make their cooperation less sensitive to sanctions from the West, experts say.
"The BRICS countries are in the first rank to do the job that international financial system now needs. What the BRICS said was a very welcomed wake up call," John Kirton, the Co-Director of the BRICS Reasearch Group told RT.
Russia and China have been trading in the rouble and yuan for several years, now Russia plans to expand local currency settlement with India.

“With China it took us three years to (evolve) from initial conversations to trading in local currencies,” Vladimir Dmitriev, the chairman of Russia’ s VEB told reporters. “I think we will meet similar terms with India”.
Meanwhile the swap requires a lot of technical work by each country such as the synchronization of national banking legislation, according to Mr. Dmitriev.
The BRICS countries are also going to announce plans on a joint development bank which is considered a possible rival to the World Bank and the IMF. If established, it would function as a lending agency and would provide finance for joint BRICS projects..."

at http://www.businessinsider.com/brics-demands-more-imf-voting-power-2012-3

BRICS cite obstacles to growth set by debt struck West

"The world’s five largest emerging economies claim the West’s quantitative easing policy is destabilizing their own growth.Should the western cheap cash injection last too long, the developed countries themselves will suffer, experts are warning.
Brazil's President Dilma Roussefftold the fifth annual BRICS summit that while the developed world's monetary policy "brings enormous trade advantages to developed countries, it results in unfair obstacles for others".
The BRICS summit joint statement, signed by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa states that the enormous cash slush created by the west to deal with its debt crisis has "been spilling over into emerging economies, fostering excessive volatility in capital flows and commodity prices".
The US Fed, Bank of England and the ECB have injected trillions into their banking systems and cut their key interest rates to boost domestic economies. Lately the ECB alone provided for $1.3 trln in form of the 3-year loans at a very low interest rate, seeking to cool worries around the European money market. The benchmark US Fed rate has been varying within the bottom coring of0-0.25% for more than three years. The ECB rate stands at 1%, while the Bank of England's charges 0.5%.
“Since western countries gets cheap money, they seeks to invest it into the most precious things, which is today commodities,” Tamerlan Khasimikov, a general director at BST Capital Management, told Business RT, “BRICS have real cause for concern, as high demand in commodity driven economies makes them the major destination for foreign investors”

at http://rt.com/business/news/central-banks-monetary-policy-738/

BRICS: Foreign interference in Syria 'unacceptable'

"The world’s five leading emerging economies, represented by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, have released a statement that condemns foreign interference in Syria.
It is important to give the Arab Republic’s government and the opposition a chance to start a dialogue, “without saying that such a dialogue is doomed to failure from the start and that only military actions can restore order,” President Dmitry Medvedev told reporters on Thursday at the conclusion of the fourth BRICS summit, held in New Delhi, India.
The Russian leader stressed that a military approach to the Syrian crisis, which is pitting anti-government militants against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, would be “the most shortsighted and dangerous.”
He stressed that the BRICS member states “will promote the success” of the Syrian dialogue.
Medvedev also suggested his partners from BRICS organize joint humanitarian aid to the Syrian people.
The Russian president noted that Russia is already providing such aid to the conflict-torn country.
The BRICS Summit also focused their attention on other pressing global issues, including reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)..."

at http://rt.com/politics/brics-medvedev-syria-aid-732/

BRICS: Not bound by ‘unilateral’ sanctions on Iran

"India and China insist that US sanctions on Iran's oil industry should not apply to their trade ties with Tehran. All of the BRICS countries agree they are not bound by the "unilateral" sanctions against Iran.
­The statement comes as the trade ministers of the BRICS economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – meet ahead of a summit in India.
"I think that we all broadly agree with the proposal, the terminology that was made, that if there are UN Security Council sanctions then we are all bound by that, but if there are sanctions that are imposed by other countries unilaterally, they shouldn't have to apply to us," South Africa's Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies is cited by Reuters as saying..."

at http://rt.com/news/brics-iran-us-sanctions-684/

Brics’ move to unseat US dollar as trade currency

"South Africa will this week take some initial steps to unseat the US dollar as the preferred worldwide currency for trade and investment in emerging economies.

Thus, the nation is expected to become party to endorsing the Chinese currency, the renminbi, as the currency of trade in emerging markets.

This means getting a renminbi-denominated bank account, in addition to a dollar account, could be an advantage for African businesses that seek to do business in the emerging markets.

The move is set to challenge the supremacy of the US dollar..."

at http://www.citypress.co.za/Business/News/Brics-move-to-unseat-US-dollar-as-trade-currency-20120324

US grip on World Bank challenged

"The Nigerian finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and former Colombian finance minister, Jose Antonio Ocampo, are reportedly being put forward to replace Robert Zoellick who is retiring.

Ever since the World Bank was established at the Bretton Woods conference after the Second World War, an American has always led it. The understanding also upholds the traditional that a European always heads the International Monetary Fund, created in the wake of the same conference.

Leaders of developing economies have called for a break in the tradition but have so far failed to get enough support from other countries.

Sources told Reuters that Mr Okonjo-Iweala and Mr Ocampo have gathered support from key countries such as South Africa and Brazil.

Mr Okonjo-Iweala was managing director of the World Bank until last year when he left to become Nigeria's finance minister. Mr Ocampo was the former under-secretary for economic and social affairs at the United Nations (UN)..."

at  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9158530/US-grip-on-World-Bank-challenged.html

BRICS bank next step to dollar independence

"The ‘club’ of emerging economies known as the BRICS are strengthening their union. The countries are mulling over setting up a single development bank to promote joint investment initiatives, as well as their domestic currencies.
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are set to discuss the idea at the coming BRICS meeting in New Delhi on March 29, Financial Times says.
This is mainly to get a louder say in international arena for the“great reserves,” Ivan Tchakarov, chief economist for Russia and CIS countries at Renaissance Capital, told Business RT. “All of these economies, in particular China, Russia and Brazil and less so India are the countries that are not only growing at a significantly faster pace than the developed economies, but they also have a lot of reserves,” he said.
China currently possesses the biggest foreign exchange reserves in the world, standing at $3.2 trillion. This compares with Russia’s $505.4bln and $355.1bln in Brazil, which ranks them the 4th and the 6th on the list.
The setting up of such an international financial institution will pave the way for a bigger voting for the BRICS countries in international bodies such as the IMF and the World Bank, Tchakarov added.
In terms of priority, infrastructure projects would most benefit all the BRIC members, as it remains well below the world standards in all of the states, Tchakarov said.
The move comes after media reports were saying Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were seeking distance themselves from the US dollar. Mutual credits in so-called “intro BRICS currencies” through such a bank for development could really help them“elevate their international status.”

at http://rt.com/business/news/brics-set-bank-development-004/

BRICS prepares world banking revolution

"RICS member-states are preparing a world banking revolution. They are planning to nominate an alternative candidate for the post of the Chairman of the World Bank for the first time in history. BRICS also demands redistribution of quotas in the International Monetary Fund in the near future and intends to study India’s initiative on creating a South-South Bank.
Representatives of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa proposed a reform of the world financial system at their meeting in Mexico City which took place during the conference of G20 finance ministers and heads of central banks.
BRICS financiers are annoyed with the private rule that the head of the World Bank is always a representative of the US. They believe that candidates should be assessed based on their merits and not citizenship. BRICS member-states are convinced that it is essential to create competition for the US candidate, either from a BRICS country or from Europe. It has been decided to prepare a declaration on a coordinated position on this subject in the next two weeks. Candidates for the post of the head of the World Bank should be determined by the 23rd of March.
On the 29th of March BRICS leaders are expected to launch the mechanism of coordinating opinions on India’s proposal to create a South-South Bank. It is to become a support institution for countries with developing markets. BRICS member-states will be playing the main role in it, according to the quotas of votes..."

at  http://www.voltairenet.org/BRICS-prepares-world-banking