OREANDA-NEWS  By the end of 2023, the BRICS countries have increased their share in world trade to 21.6 percent. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), since the foundation of the association, it has increased almost one and a half times, RIA Novosti reports.

At the moment, the BRICS countries' trade volumes with other countries of the world and with each other amount to 10.4 trillion dollars. This is the second result after the European Union, whose figures amount to $14.3 trillion and 29.7 percent of world trade. The third result was shown by the USMCA (USMCA, which includes the United States, Mexico and Canada), 7.6 trillion dollars and 15.7 percent, respectively.

In fourth place in the ASEAN ranking (ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations), consisting of Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. Their figures have grown to 3.5 trillion dollars and 7.4 percent of world trade.

Earlier it became known about the preparations for the creation of the BRICS payment system. A report on this has been prepared in Russia — a document containing initiatives to organize the BRICS cross-border payment initiative, a system of inter-depository interaction and its own reinsurance system will be presented to the leaders of the countries in October in Kazan.

According to Anton Siluanov, head of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the combined share of the dollar and the euro in the settlement structure of the BRICS countries is less than 30 percent. The share of the main currencies of Western countries in the BRICS settlement structure is steadily decreasing, and the value of national currencies, including the Russian ruble, is growing. Their total share in the calculations of the association is now more than twice the role of currencies of unfriendly states, Siluanov added.