Fact Check: No valid currency note was released at the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan
16th BRICS Summit themed ‘Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security’ took place recently
BRICS currency
16th BRICS Summit themed ‘Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security’ took place recently at Kazan, a city in Southwest Russia. The summit took place under the chairmanship of Russia. BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. This year the group has extended to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. The members gathered for a three-day conference in Kazan. The group was invented in 2001 by a Goldman Sachs banker to describe a group of fast-growing developing countries. This was initially started with just Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined in 2010. Many discussions related to financial reforms were held at the summit.
At this summit, a symbolic BRICS banknote was unveiled. It features the flags of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and also symbolizes the collective ambitions of these nations to explore alternatives to the US dollar in cross-border transactions. A picture of a currency note is going viral on social media, in which an image of the Taj Mahal can be seen. This sparked a series of posts on social media with the claims that a new currency was launched during the BRICS summit. Several social media users shared it with captions like ‘New Banknote of the single #BRICS Currency.’
Fact Check:
The claim is False. No new currency has been released at the BRICS summit. The currency released by Russian President Vladimir Putin released the mock-up currency called the ‘BRICS bill’ at the summit.
When we searched for more information related to the BRICS currency, we found an X account named BRICS News, which shared the release of mock of the BRICS currency. The images are shared with the caption ‘JUST IN: Russian President Putin has been gifted a mock-up of a "BRICS bill" at BRICS summit in Kazan.’
Another X account named Sputnik, shared the images and video from the BRICS summit with the caption: ‘At the summit in Kazan, Putin was shown a symbolic "BRICS banknote." The note "represents the collective work being carried out within the BRICS framework." On the front face of the banknote, the flags of the BRICS founding countries – Russia, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa – can be seen. A debate on creating a common BRICS currency was held behind closed doors at the summit today.’
According to an article published in Aajtak, the Russian official gave a currency note to President Vladimir Putin and after showing this note to his ministers, President Putin handed it over to the head of the Central Bank of Russia.
There is no announcement of the official currency of the BRICS countries yet. The currency note is just symbolic for now, which means that none of the BRICS countries have accepted this note nor will the picture of the Taj Mahal be present on the final currency note of the BRICS countries. The symbolic note was also prepared by the officials of the Russian diplomatic mission in South Africa, which had no intervention of Indian authorities, or any other country's approval.
Financial Express also published an article stating that a symbolic banknote was unveiled, igniting discussions on reshaping global finance. The banknote, which features the flags of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, symbolizes the collective ambitions of these nations to explore alternatives to the US dollar in cross-border transactions. This development highlights the growing effort within BRICS to establish a more independent economic system, one less reliant on Western financial structures.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made it clear at the summit that the BRICS nations are not outright rejecting the US dollar but are preparing alternatives if access to it continues to be restricted.
Hence, no new currency has been released by the BRICS countries during the summit held in October 2024. Only a symbolic currency note was unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the summit. The claim is False.