Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (the BRICS) met in Durham, South Africa this week to discuss a new world bank which will allow them to trade and fund their projects independent of the World Bank and the U.S. Dollar.
South African President Jacob Zuma saud that the group has “decided to enter formal negotiations to establish a BRICS-led new development Bank based on our own considerable infrastructure needs, which amount to around $4.5 trillion over the next five years.”
Today Brazil and China announced that they will do business using each other’s currencies instead of using the U.S. Dollar – the world’s predominate reserve currency.
As the BRICS development bank matures, the members hope it will allow some of the world’s largest emerging economies to ignore and later supplant the World Bank and IMF.
Others are skeptical. .
Chief executive of the Johannesburg-based Frontier Advisory Martyn Davies said “I think there was too much hype around it”. Davies continued saying that the BRICS”are still battling to create the economic institutions to back their geopolitical rhetoric … the rhetoric is not supported by the substance.”
Where the World Bank has been largely the puppet of the U.S. and the IMF under the hand of Europe, the BRICS development bank effort is being largely pushed by China.
Many of the nations involved are economic powerhouses in their own regions, but the group is not yet a functional alliance. Many experts believe that for the bank to emerge as a global economic power, it will need to pull in new members from other emerging nations.
Even as unlikely that a grouping such as BRICS would actually be established, the ‘hint’ of such a group is proof that a “ONE WORLD” organization is not ‘workable’. This action displays the very differences in the paticipants beliefs that would create gaps in any unity & policies a ‘one world’ government attempted to institute… One Size simply does not fit all….China’s agressive moves in growth would soon be locked into challanging Russia for dominence. China’s economy has grown rapidly since 1996 & being accepted into the Internaional Trade Union. South Africa would be another horse in their growing stable…adding to their wealth of power….We have seen in our own Country the huge influx of ‘made in China’ costing job loses & all that goes with it….They have nothing to lose & sit like a cat waiting for the canary to open the cage door.
Our own devalued dollar & lack of leadership is showing thse ‘little guys’ that maybe they can’t rely on the U.S. after all. And the European IMF members are on shaky ground as well. So while I commend their desire for indepence, I hope that they fail in this effort. China & Russia will gobble them up & use them as fodder to feed their own.