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BRICS on the Move
4 January 2024
BRICS on the Move:New Development Bank Provides $1 Billion Loan to Brazil EIRNS—The news aggregator Infobrics reported on Dec. 28 that the BRICS New Development Bank has disbursed a $1 billion loan to Brazil “to finance development and infrastructure projects.” The funds are part of an agreement reached last October between Brazil’s Minister of Finance Fernando Haddad, and NDB President Dilma Rousseff. [dns] Russia Provides 6.5 Billion Ruble Credit Line to Iran EIRNS—The press service of the Central Bank of Iran issued a statement reporting on the late December visit to Russia by the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Mohammad Reza Farzin, which included an agreement “to open a credit line in the amount of 6.5 billion rubles for the import of essential goods from Russia,” according to TASS. That is the equivalent of $71 million U.S. dollars, but the two countries—both heavily sanctioned by the United States and other Western nations—agreed at the meeting of their central bankers to conduct all bilateral trade in their national currencies only. As RT headlined their article, “Iran and Russia Officially Ditch Dollar.” TASS explained: “The parties also outlined plans to use the potential of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to expand trade relations between the two countries. The Central Bank of Iran stressed that Tehran and Moscow opened ‘a new chapter in the history of financial and banking cooperation.’” [dns] Venezuela Will Ask To Join the BRICS at Its October 2024 Summit EIRNS—In an interview with the Spanish-language edition of Le Monde Diplomatique published Jan. 1, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro stated that the BRICS represents “humanity’s future,” and that “I hope that at the next summit in Russia [in October 2024]…. Venezuela will join BRICS+ as a permanent member.” He said that his government hopes to attract more investment and find new markets for its own goods with the help of BRICS. Maduro also sharply criticized the decision of Argentina’s new President Javier Milei, who decided to not join the BRICS even though Argentina had already been accepted as a new member. “By excluding Argentina from BRICS, he Javier Milei] is acting against the Argentines. This is one of the most clumsy and stupid things that Milei has done against Argentina…. (It) takes Argentina back to the 19th century," [Maduro stated. It will turn Argentina into a”vassal of the imperial unipolar world," Maduro said. [dns] Egypt-Russia Trade Shows Dramatic Increase EIRNS—Aleksey Tevanyan, Russia’s trade representative to Egypt, told RIA Novosti in a Dec. 30 interview that trade between the two countries has been soaring, and will exceed $7 billion in 2023. An increasing portion of that trade is being conducted in national currencies, not dollars, and bilateral trade is expected to further jump when Egypt signs a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, which is expected shortly. “Earlier this week, members of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) signed a full-fledged free trade agreement with Iran,” according to RT. Both Egypt and Iran are new members of the BRICS. RT added: “Tevanyan noted that with economic cooperation growing, Egyptian companies are increasingly eager to switch from Western to national currencies in trade transactions with Moscow. ‘Over the past few years, dollars and euros have become scarce in Egypt, which is why problems periodically arise with payments for goods already delivered. In this regard, Egyptian partners have expressed great interest in switching to payments in national currencies,’ he said.” [dns] |