The View | Expanded Brics will continue to chip away at US dollar’s dominance
- How the US has used its dollar privilege for its own interests, without regard to the damage it causes others, has not gone down well with developing countries
- Brics’ formation and expansion must be seen for what it is: a rallying cry for a fairer world order
Western reporting on Brics have been biased and grudging. Before the Brics summit in South Africa, major Western media outlets reported that India and Brazil were against enlargement.
While the pre-summit narrative was internal dissension, the post-summit summation questioned what the expanded group could really do, and that consensus would remain difficult.
Commentators seemed to disapprove of Russia and China but thought better of India and Brazil because the latter two are seen as West-leaning. Some saw Brics as a manifestation of resentment of Western global leadership. The more facetious suggested the bigger Brics would need to change its name and the new acronym would be unpronounceable gobbledegook.
The fact is that Brics has gained status and influence. Critics don’t bother to point out the summit in South Africa was the 15th gathering. Members have been working since 2009 to explore how they could cooperate on development.
Why? Because the global political and economic governance system – referred to as the “rules-based international order” by Western countries – ignores the interests of emerging economies.
