BRICS is moving from acronym to architecture. After a 2024 expansion that brought Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates into a bloc long anchored by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the grouping now speaks for a far larger slice of the Global South-and a rising share of global output, trade and commodities.
The coalition’s push goes beyond symbolism. Through the New Development Bank’s growing local-currency lending, bilateral energy deals increasingly settled outside the dollar, and efforts to stitch together alternative payment rails, BRICS governments are testing parallel pathways to finance and trade. The aim is not a clean break from the Western-led order but to dilute its dominance-hedging against sanctions risk, currency volatility and policy choices made in Washington and Brussels.
The implications are wide. For central banks, it complicates reserve management. For multinationals, it reshapes pricing, compliance and supply chains. For the G7, it accelerates a drift toward a more fragmented, multipolar economy. This report examines the levers BRICS is pulling, the limits of de-dollarization, and how a looser, larger consortium is quietly redrawing the map of economic power.
Table of Contents
- BRICS Drives Dedollarization With Cross Border Payments Bilateral Swap Lines and Strategic Gold Accumulation
- Energy and Infrastructure Realign Around BRICS as New Commodity Benchmarks Port and Rail Corridors and Local Currency Finance Scale Up
- What to Do Now for Governments and Investors Diversify Currency Exposure Partner with the New Development Bank Pilot Central Bank Digital Currency Links and Hedge Sanctions Risk
- Insights and Conclusions
BRICS Drives Dedollarization With Cross Border Payments Bilateral Swap Lines and Strategic Gold Accumulation
The bloc accelerates currency diversification by coupling new cross-border settlement rails with liquidity backstops and reserve rebalancing: members expand use of local-currency invoicing for energy and commodities, test interoperable payment platforms (including CIPS- and SPFS-linked channels and the BRICS Pay concept), and lean on central-bank swap lines to cushion funding needs outside the dollar; in parallel, the New Development Bank scales local-currency lending, while central banks deepen strategic gold accumulation-a move that bolsters collateral for clearing, hedges sanction risk, and reduces reliance on U.S. Treasuries as the default reserve asset, especially after the bloc’s expansion brought major energy exporters into its orbit.
- Cross-border rails: wider use of yuan-, rupee-, and real-denominated settlement, with pilots aimed at lowering dollar exposure in trade flows.
- Swap-line safety net: bilateral facilities provide emergency liquidity in partner currencies, stabilizing payment cycles during stress.
- Local-currency finance: NDB and state banks price more projects in members’ currencies, creating natural demand and pricing benchmarks.
- Gold as strategic buffer: sustained reserve purchases and refined-market cooperation increase hard-asset backing for payments and clearing.
- Energy trade realignment: expanded membership enables non-dollar pricing of oil and gas, reinforcing liquidity in regional FX markets.
Energy and Infrastructure Realign Around BRICS as New Commodity Benchmarks Port and Rail Corridors and Local Currency Finance Scale Up
BRICS members are accelerating a structural shift in trade logistics and energy markets, with alternative commodity benchmarks gaining traction, cross-border port and rail corridors moving more cargo, and local-currency finance reducing dollar exposure as sanctioned and supply-constrained economies rewire routes and funding models; volumes are tilting toward Asian and Middle Eastern hubs as state-backed lenders and sovereign funds deepen capital pools for infrastructure and critical-minerals value chains.
- Benchmarks: Shanghai INE yuan-priced crude, ICE Futures Abu Dhabi’s Murban, Dubai’s Oman crude, Guangzhou lithium futures, Indonesia’s nickel trading platform, and Russia’s SPIMEX indices broaden price discovery outside legacy Western markers.
- Corridors: The INSTC stitches Russia-Iran-India via the Caspian with the Rasht-Astara rail segment advancing; India’s Chabahar gateway extends into Central Asia; upgraded nodes from Egypt’s Ain Sokhna to South Africa’s Durban and Brazil’s Norte-Sul rail lift throughput; trials on the Vladivostok-Chennai sea lane expand Indo-Pacific options.
- Finance: The New Development Bank scales rand-, yuan- and real-denominated issuance; yuan settlements rise in Russia-China energy trade; India-UAE rupee-dirham deals debut for oil and gold shipments; China-Brazil yuan clearing deepens; cross-border rails via CIPS and pilots like mBridge widen non-dollar payment channels.
What to Do Now for Governments and Investors Diversify Currency Exposure Partner with the New Development Bank Pilot Central Bank Digital Currency Links and Hedge Sanctions Risk
With multipolar finance accelerating, officials and asset allocators are moving to harden liquidity, widen settlement options and reduce choke‑point exposure across trade, reserves and portfolios.
- Broaden the currency mix: Lift the share of CNY, INR, BRL and ZAR in reserves and trade invoicing; add AED and EGP where trade links justify; expand bilateral swap lines; hold more gold and short‑duration local‑currency paper to cushion basis‑risk in multi‑currency cash cycles.
- Engage the New Development Bank: Co‑finance strategic infrastructure in local currencies, tap NDB local‑currency bond programs, and leverage its procurement and ESG frameworks to crowd‑in private capital while trimming hard‑currency refinancing risk.
- Test cross‑border CBDC corridors: Join sandbox pilots that interlink domestic instant‑payment rails, adopt ISO 20022 messaging, and trial PvP/DvP settlement with programmable escrow to cut costs, speed up clearing and lower counterparty risk.
- Mitigate sanctions exposure: Build dual payment routing via alternative networks (e.g., CIPS), strengthen dynamic KYC/AML and contractual currency‑switch clauses, and expand trade‑credit, political‑risk and cyber cover; for portfolios, use FX baskets and commodity‑linked contracts to hedge disruptions.
Insights and Conclusions
As BRICS tests new financing tools, trade settlements and supply-chain links, its challenge is less about signaling intent than delivering execution. The bloc’s promise of alternatives to Western-led institutions has clear appeal across the Global South, but internal asymmetries, divergent strategic priorities and governance questions could slow the pace of change.
The next phase will hinge on whether BRICS can translate diplomatic momentum into rules, capital and standards that scale-without fragmenting markets or amplifying risk. For investors, policymakers and companies, the direction is already clear: decision-making power and economic gravity are dispersing. How far and how fast that shift runs will shape the contours of a more multipolar global order.