Buzz about New BRICS Payment System on the Sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit

July 29, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—Igor Morozov, the head of Russia’s Coordinating Committee for Economic Cooperation with African Countries (AFROCOM), told RT yesterday on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa summit that he expected a new BRICS payment system would replace the Western world’s SWIFT in as little as a half-year. Mozorov told RT that last year alone, “19 African countries applied for BRICS membership because they wanted completely new economic relations.... The U.S. dollar has been weaponized, which is why nations will gradually move away from using it in trade and the BRICS payment system will replace the SWIFT financial messaging network.”

Mozorov stated: “African leaders are also concerned about further use of the dollar and euro. In this regard, the number of countries wishing to join BRICS is growing rapidly, because this is an alternative payment system that is due to emerge within half a year.”

The Russian official added: “We are ready and we will supply annually through humanitarian aid everything that we have in the agro-industrial complex. Our tractors, aggregates, mineral fertilizers and technologies. We’ve achieved amazing results in ten years and we want to share this experience with our African partners,” including “access to innovative technologies.”

Andrey Kostin, the CEO of Russia’s second-largest bank VTB, also discussed global financial changes in a dialogue with RT on the summit sidelines. “Structural changes are bound to happen. African countries are also acting on this. They have already started to create their own systems of information exchange and settlements in national currencies. This is a promising trend,” Kostin said.

“BRICS members Brazil, China, India, and South Africa, have started to switch to alternative currencies in mutual trade after sanctions effectively cut Moscow off from the Western financial system,” Kostin explained to RT. “A growing number of nations have expressed their support of the trend.”