The 16th BRICS Summit took place in Kazan, Russia, from 22-24 October 2024. The summit was chaired by Russia with the theme “Strengthening Multilateralism for Equitable Global Development and Security.” This year, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE joined the BRICS alliance. In this context, a post (here, here and here) claimed, “BRICS countries launch new BRICS currency to check the dollar.” Let’s fact-check the claim.
Claim: The BRICS countries have launched a new BRICS currency to challenge the dollar.
Fact: The BRICS countries have not officially issued a new BRICS currency. The viral post only a symbolic note that a Russian official presented to President Putin at the recent 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan. After showing it to his ministers, Putin handed it to the head of the Central Bank of Russia. Reports indicate that Russia has proposed a BRICS currency since 2023. However, there has been no real progress. Hence, the viral post MISLEADING.
To verify the facts, we did a reverse image search and found that Russia’s Sputnik shared photos and videos from the 16th BRICS Summit on 23 October 2024, on their official X handle. The post stated, “At the summit in Kazan, Putin was shown a symbolic ‘BRICS banknote’ representing collective work within BRICS.” This clearly indicates it’s not an official banknote.
Further research led us to reports (here, here and here), including one from Financial Express on 24 October 2024, which stated that a symbolic BRICS banknote, featuring member state flags, was shown at the Kazan summit. This sparked discussions on alternatives to the US dollar.
Therefore, this BRICS banknote is purely symbolic, meaning none of the BRICS countries have officially accepted it. There’s no decision on an official BRICS currency yet; the note was made by Russian diplomats without involvement from other BRICS nations, according to a Russian official at the 16th BRICS conference. Reports say someone gave the symbolic note to President Putin, who showed it to his ministers before passing it to the head of Russia’s Central Bank.
According to several reports (here, here, here), Russia has put forward multiple proposals for a BRICS currency as early as 2023. At the 16th BRICS Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin clarified that while BRICS countries aren’t entirely rejecting the US dollar, they are preparing alternatives if restrictions on access persist (here, here).
While many posts have gone viral on social media claiming that BRICS countries have officially released a new BRICS currency, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) of the Government of India clarified that this news is false and that there is no common currency related to the BRICS countries (here).
To sum up, BRICS countries have not officially adopted or issued a BRICS currency, the viral photo only shows a symbolic note.
