BRICS is accelerating its bid to reshape the global economy, leveraging an expanded membership, deeper energy ties and alternative finance to challenge the post-Cold War order. With new entrants broadening the bloc’s reach across the Middle East and Africa, the coalition of major emerging markets now speaks for a larger share of global output and nearly half the world’s population, adding weight to calls for a more multipolar system.
The group’s agenda-ranging from greater use of local currencies in trade to a stronger New Development Bank-aims to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar and Western-dominated financial institutions. As sanctions, supply-chain realignments and commodity volatility reorder trade flows, BRICS’ combined heft in energy, critical minerals and manufacturing is giving it greater leverage in setting terms and standards.
While internal differences persist, the bloc’s expanding footprint and growing list of partners signal a sustained push to rewrite rules on finance, payments and development lending-shifts that could ripple through markets and multilateral forums in the months ahead.
Table of Contents
- BRICS accelerates local currency trade settlements and cross border digital payments to cut dollar risk
- New Development Bank shifts capital to power grids ports and green industrial projects to unclog supply chains
- Policy roadmap urges swap lines among BRICS and partners common green taxonomy coordinated debt workouts and cofinancing in Africa and Southeast Asia
- Final Thoughts
BRICS accelerates local currency trade settlements and cross border digital payments to cut dollar risk
Finance chiefs across the bloc are moving from pilots to deployment, widening local-currency settlement for energy, metals and agro trade while stitching together instant-payment rails and early-stage CBDC interoperability; officials say the push aims to curb exposure to dollar funding shocks and sanctions channels by expanding swap lines, standing liquidity facilities and multi-lateral netting hubs anchored by the New Development Bank, aligning on ISO 20022 messaging and common KYC/AML standards, and testing links between domestic systems such as UPI- and PIX-style platforms-an approach expected to compress FX spreads for SMEs, shift invoicing practices in key commodities, and rewire regional clearing flows, even as convertibility limits, data localization rules and cyber risk remain material constraints.
- Key mechanisms: expanded currency swap lines, FX netting arrangements, multi-currency clearinghouses, and settlement in trade partners’ units.
- Digital infrastructure: cross-border instant-payment linkages, CBDC corridor pilots, ISO 20022-standard messaging for straight-through processing.
- Governance: harmonized KYC/AML, risk-based compliance, shared fraud intelligence, and cybersecurity hardening.
- Market impact: lower transaction costs, faster settlement cycles, broader access for smaller banks, and deeper liquidity for local currency bonds.
- Risks to monitor: liquidity squeezes in stress, convertibility frictions, regulatory fragmentation, and basis volatility in thinly traded pairs.
New Development Bank shifts capital to power grids ports and green industrial projects to unclog supply chains
Signaling a strategic pivot within BRICS finance, the New Development Bank is prioritizing mission-critical infrastructure-channeling fresh capital toward cross-border power-grid upgrades, port modernization, and green industrial buildouts that can ease cost pressures and move goods faster from factory floor to final market; by pairing local-currency financing with de-risked public-private frameworks, the lender aims to unlock shovel-ready projects, integrate renewable capacity with reliable transmission, and anchor new value chains (from batteries to clean fuels) closer to raw materials and consumers, thereby reducing exposure to external shocks and tightening the links between energy, logistics, and manufacturing across member economies.
- Power grids: investment in interconnectors, smart metering, and grid-scale storage to stabilize renewables and cut transmission losses.
- Ports and logistics: deeper berths, digital customs, and cold-chain assets to shorten dwell times and lower freight costs.
- Green industrial hubs: support for battery, electrolyzer, and recycling facilities tied to clean power and efficient transport corridors.
- Resilience focus: diversified routes, regional procurement, and standards alignment to reduce bottlenecks and supply risk.
- Financing tools: blended capital, sustainability-linked terms, and local procurement to speed delivery while building domestic capacity.
Policy roadmap urges swap lines among BRICS and partners common green taxonomy coordinated debt workouts and cofinancing in Africa and Southeast Asia
In a bid to deepen financial resilience and mobilize climate-aligned capital, a new blueprint from BRICS policy circles outlines a package of measures centered on central bank liquidity backstops, harmonized sustainability standards, faster sovereign restructurings, and joint project funding in fast-growing regions. The plan, aimed at reducing currency risk and accelerating green investment, would leverage the New Development Bank (NDB) as a coordinating hub, build local-currency safety nets through reciprocal facilities among members and friendly economies, and deploy blended finance to scale infrastructure and clean-energy pipelines across Africa and Southeast Asia, while aligning with global disclosure norms to avoid market fragmentation.
- Liquidity network: Establish reciprocal central bank swap lines, with transparent pricing and eligibility, to stabilize FX markets and support trade and investment settlement in local currencies.
- Shared green rulebook: Develop a common taxonomy interoperable with major global frameworks to guide banks, funds, and corporates, enabling comparable disclosures and lowering the cost of capital for credible low-carbon projects.
- Coordinated debt treatments: Create a standing platform for synchronized workouts with comparability-of-treatment principles, time-bound milestones, and options for state-contingent instruments to reduce restructuring delays and growth scarring.
- Cofinancing push: Expand deal syndication among the NDB, regional development banks, and sovereign funds, with guarantees and local-currency credit enhancements to de-risk investments in power, transport, digital, and resilience projects.
- Sequencing and governance: Launch a technical task force within 90 days, publish taxonomy guidance within a year, and pilot swap lines and cofinanced projects in priority corridors, with public dashboards to track delivery.
Final Thoughts
As BRICS broadens its agenda from trade to finance, technology and standards, the bloc’s real test lies in execution. Converting declarations into interoperable payment systems, scalable development finance and credible coordination on debt and climate will determine whether its weight translates into lasting influence rather than episodic headlines.
The coming year will offer clear markers: progress at the New Development Bank, movement on cross-border settlements in local currencies, a more defined approach to supply-chain security, and how an expanded membership balances divergent interests. Responses from established institutions and major economies will shape the contours of coexistence-whether BRICS emerges as a complementary pillar of multilateralism or accelerates parallel architectures.
For now, the shift is incremental but cumulative. Demographics, resources and market size are steadily nudging the global economy’s center of gravity. How effectively BRICS channels those advantages-while navigating internal asymmetries-will help decide the next phase of globalization and the rules that govern it.