‘De-dollarisation’ in focus as 19 countries express interest in joining BRICS

Global dominance of the U.S. dollar is in focus today after a Bloomberg report confirmed that another 19 countries want to join the “BRICS”.  

BRICS to discuss expansion in June

The news arrives ahead of the group’s annual summit on June 2^nd and 3^rd in South Africa. According to Anil Sooklal – the South African ambassador to the group:

What will be discussed is the expansion of BRICS and the modalities of how this will happen. We are getting applications to join every day.

He also confirmed that six countries had informally requested to join the group while the remaining thirteen have submitted a formal application for inclusion.

Versus its year-to-date high last month, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) is down more than 4.0% at writing.

BRICS has surpassed G7 in GDP

BRICS had confirmed only months ago that it was ready to include new members. What’s also noteworthy is that this group of countries is already bigger than the G7 nations in terms of GDP calculated on purchasing power parity.

That’s significant because the bloc is working on a new currency to replace the United States’ dollar in international trade following Western sanctions on Moscow and Beijing.

“De-dollarisation” has been a recurring debate this year for other reasons as well, including concerns around the U.S. debt ceiling and Saudi Arabia agreeing to restore relations with Iran.

Recent data from the IMF also revealed the share of USD in global reserves has tanked from about 70% in late 1990s to 58.4% now.