BRICS trade currency: deferred or ditched?

Last Friday, President Putin ruled out a new BRICS currency for now saying that it is not under consideration, promoting trade settlement in national currencies instead.

The idea of a common BRICS gold-backed currency was first mooted over a year ago, with the Russian embassy in Nairobi leaking that it would be on the Johannesburg summit agenda in August 2023. It didn’t make it, with India firmly opposed, and China seemingly lukewarm. Clearly, disagreements have continued through the Russian presidency. And the larger BRICS becomes, the less likely a currency will be agreed upon.

But then, why is the gold price still rising? I’ll come to that later.