Russia bats for BRICS emergency fund

BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are still pursuing the idea of a joint crisis fund if the emerging economies fail to get proper representation at the multilateral funding agencies like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, a Russian minister said today.

Central bank governors of BRICS nations are currently looking at currency swap possibilities even as leaders of the emerging powers agreed to contribute $75 billion to the IMF's emergency fund.

At the Group of 20 summit in Mexico, the BRICS leaders have agreed to boost IMF's lending power in order to hold off a break-up of the euro zone area, but have sought to tie the loans to voting reforms.

BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors have been instructed to study possible currency swap arrangements and report to BRICS leaders ahead of next year's summit in South Africa.

"It is clear that BRICS countries have entered the stage when they can demand to be reckoned with," Russian deputy finance minister Sergei Storchak said on the sidelines of the Rio Summit that hopes to rally the world behind a common environmental blueprint amid economic woes and discord.

"The issue of currency swaps, or maybe at some point a joint anti-crisis fund, should be viewed from this perspective," he said.