Last summer, the five partner nations set up the New Development Bank (NDB) as an alternative to Western global financial lending institutions. They also agreed to establish a $100-billion liquidity reserve to maintain the bank's financial stability.
The BRICS emergency currency pool is intended to provide a buffer in case of capital volatility, and help overcome short-term liquidity problems as well as rapidly offset fiscal deficits triggered by economic turbulence.
The nations are also mulling a separate credit-rating agency to counterbalance the undue influence of US-based organizations.
The BRICS group comprises over one third of the world’s population. The five nations have a combined nominal GDP equivalent to approximately 20 percent of gross world product.
