Earlier this year, the international economic bloc BRICS (comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, hence the acronym) announced it may soon start investigating the prospects of introducing their own currency to bypass the US dollar, while South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said recently that departure from US dollar could help empower other nations.
As the United States ramps up its attempts to punish countries it does not like through economic sanctions, a number of countries across the world started mulling the possibility of countering this threat by introducing a new currency that might challenge the US dollar’s dominance in global trade, Sputnik reported.
Professor Alexis Habiyaremye of the University of Johannesburg pointed out that the "disproportionate advantage that the dollar enjoyed in the international monetary system" created towards the end of World War II was highlighted decades ago by then-French Minister of Finance Valery Giscard d'Estaing who even coined the term "exorbitant privilege."
"Because of the extraterritoriality of US law for all parts of the world where the US dollar is used, using a different currency would also enable these countries to avoid the arbitrary imposition of US laws on their territories," he added.