Xi Meets Ramaphosa, Expansion on Summit Agenda

Leaders of the BRICS nations will focus on ways to reduce dependence on the US dollar when they meet starting Tuesday, South Africa said. The rand advanced after the bloc’s bank agreed to lend $1 billion to a state-owned company.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will also discuss enlarging the group of major emerging market powers at the three-day leaders’ summit. While the dollar’s demise has been mooted many times in recent years, so far other pretenders have been competing among themselves and there’s no conclusive evidence for a structural dollar decline.

Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t attending, avoiding an international arrest warrant over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. China, backed by Russia and South Africa, has been pushing for new members to be admitted to the alliance, an expansion that some BRICS countries say will help position it as a counterweight to the Group of Seven.

Bloomberg