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The BRICS countries have now openly challenged the empire of the US dollar and the Euro, which has been ruling the global financial system for decades. Russian President Vladimir Putin has strongly criticized the economic dominance of Western countries and their sanctions. Addressing the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Putin made a big claim that the fear of sanctions being imposed by Western countries and freezing of assets has now created a feeling of mistrust across the world. This is the reason why all the BRICS countries including India, China and Russia are now promoting their national currencies by completely eliminating their dependence on the US dollar.

‘Economic theft’ of western countries broke the world’s trust

In this special session moderated by senior India Today journalist Geeta Mohan, Putin made a direct attack on the policies of Europe and America. He said that western countries are spreading anarchy in many parts of the world including the Middle East and misusing their financial system as a political weapon. Referring to the Ukraine dispute, the Russian President bluntly said that freezing Russia’s reserve fund is sheer ‘theft’. This move has forever destroyed the credibility of the dollar and the euro at the international level. Today every country in the world has understood that what happened to Russia can happen to anyone tomorrow, hence everyone is now looking for safe alternatives.

Russia set an example by trading in rubles and its own currencies

According to President Putin, countries have increasingly started using their local currencies for bilateral trade with each other after being excluded from Western payment systems (SWIFT). In this new system, the role of digital finance assets and central banks’ digital currency (CBDC) is going to be very big. Russia itself presented this example and said that it is now transacting with its major global partners only in its national currency. Currently, about 65 percent of Russia’s total global exports are traded directly in ‘Rubles’ (Russian currency), which is a historic step towards de-dollarization.

BRICS has left G7 countries far behind, figures testify

Putin demonstrated the strength of BRICS from the stage and presented some very shocking economic figures to the world. He said that the BRICS group has become the main engine of future global economic progress. In the last 5 years, the contribution of BRICS countries to the global GDP growth has been 49 percent, while the contribution of the G7 group of rich countries has reduced to only 18 percent. The share of BRICS in global GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP) has now increased to 40%, while the share of the G7 has fallen to less than 20%. Putin stressed that BRICS had overtaken the G7 in the year 2020 itself and in the coming time, BRICS economies will grow at a pace of more than 4% annually.

New center of global trade shifted towards east and south

While drawing the outline of new paths for global trade, Putin made it clear that now the center of international trade is shifting from the West to the East and South (Global South). The world’s new logistics and trade routes now completely bypass the hubs controlled by Western countries. ‘North-South Corridor’, ‘Trans-Arctic Transportation Route’ and the new route passing through the Caspian Sea are the biggest examples of this. Targeting the World Trade Organization (WTO), Putin said that as long as the West had an advantage, they followed the rules, but as soon as they started lagging behind in the competition, they themselves turned their backs on their rules, due to which the credibility of the global institutions has now been completely destroyed.