The US dollar will eventually be dethroned as the dominant global currency and the BRICS can create viable alternatives, said Jeffrey Sachs, a world-renowned economist and president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
"The BRICS can create viable alternatives to the dollar. In this sense, yes, the dollar will be dethroned as the overwhelmingly dominant global currency," Sachs said.
"That is inevitable in the long run in any event, given the declining share of US GDP (gross domestic product) and global trade."
The BRICS would hasten the transition to a multi-currency system, and the US dollar would still have its role, but a much smaller one among many currencies, Sachs added.
Former chief economist of Goldman Sachs, Jim O'Neill, said the US dollar could be dethroned only when China wants "much wider use" of the Yuan.
Last week, the BRICS group of major emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- announced that its membership is more than doubling. Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia were invited to join the group. Their membership will take effect on January 1, 2024.
According to the group, this year, the BRICS overtook the global gross domestic production contribution of the G7 countries and accounts for nearly one-third of world economic activity.
REUTERS