India has “absolutely no interest” in undermining the US dollar and its fellow members of the Brics grouping of emerging economies have not formed a unified position on a proposed alternative payment system, according to India’s foreign minister.
Speaking at the London-based think tank Chatham House last week during a six-day visit to Britain and Ireland, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar described the dollar as a “source of international economic stability”.
His comments followed repeated warnings from US President Donald Trump against any efforts by Brics – an acronym of founding nations Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – to set up a payment system that could undercut the dollar’s dominance.
Jaishankar said India “has never had a problem” with the dollar’s role and had no plan to replace it as the world’s dominant currency. He also hailed Delhi’s relations with the US, while expressing cautious optimism about its improving ties with Beijing.
China has been pushing the yuan as an alternative to the dollar since the 2008 global financial crisis, signing dozens of currency swap agreements with its trading partners based on their respective currencies.
While use of the yuan in global trade settlements has risen slowly, its presence remains piecemeal compared to the dollar’s dominance. This is despite a mounting urgency in recent years among some of the Brics countries to cut reliance on the US dollar.
