BRICS Fails to Deliver on Dollar Challenge at New Delhi Summit

The BRICS summit in New Delhi last September did not produce the expected shift away from the US dollar, despite expectations of a challenge to its dominance.

The New Delhi Declaration called for expanding local-currency trade and interoperable payment systems, including BRICS Pay, but fell short of proposing a common currency.

This caution reflects the reality that governments in the Global South have faced since 2022: the freezing of hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian sovereign reserves and the exclusion of Russian banks from much of the Western financial system showed that dollar reserves are not just financial assets but can also be used as tools of geopolitical leverage.

The New Delhi summit's joint statement by finance ministers and central bank governors was similarly cautious, and this reflects a deeper truth: reducing dependence on the dollar is not the same as replacing it.