Formation of single currency within BRICS 'not possible' at the moment: Kremlin

By Emre Gurkan Abay

MOSCOW (AA) – The formation of a single currency within the BRICS is "not possible" at the moment, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a forum in Moscow, Peskov said the BRICS Leaders Summit in Kazan last month was extremely productive, with significant results achieved through extensive negotiations with a large number of guests.

He pointed out that while cooperation in finance and economics was also on the agenda at the summit, there was no significant discussion about the creation of a single currency within BRICS.

On the other hand, all countries understand that the world's reserve currency, the US dollar, can be used as a political tool against them, or that the "SWIFT payment system can be used as a tool in attempts to suppress one of the states in the world," the Kremlin spokesman said, adding that not all countries are yet ready to cooperate in establishing an alternative payment system.

Because of this understanding, he said countries have begun to work more on developing an alternative payment system.

*Writing by Gokhan Ergocun