SARB stalls bid by India and Russia to bypass dollar

GAUTENG – The South African Reserve Bank is cooling attempts from India and Russia to introduce an interlinking payment infrastructure for settlement in their respective currencies, with the aim of reducing the use of third currencies. This aligns with the BRICS initiative to lessen the dominance of the dollar. However, the SARB said that BRICS should instead focus on establishing a common vision and agree on data-exchange standards, which would lay the foundation for the interlinking system, while South Africa focuses on its interlinking initiatives in Africa.