🔹Bangladesh 🇧🇩 Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen reveals the country's aspirations of becoming a BRICS member. He revealed this after a meeting between Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and South African 🇿🇦 President Cyril Ramaphosa in Geneva🇨🇭. Bangladesh is already a member of the BRICS New Development Bank since 2021.

🔹PM 🇧🇩 Hasina will attend the BRICS leaders’ summit scheduled to take place in South Africa in August. However, Bangladesh is not presently a Dialogue Partner as other BRICS member applicants such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE. The country will use this move to diversify foreign relations and reduce the dominance of the US and the US dollar.

🔹Washington 🇺🇸 previously warned it would slap visa ✈️ restrictions on Bangladeshi citizens who undermine the democratic election process at home. The US is the largest importer of Bangladeshi products, importing $8.3 billion worth of goods in 2021 & US companies are among the largest foreign investors in the Muslim-majority country.

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💠 Bangladesh's 🇧🇩 ministry of commerce looks at the possibility of using the Indian rupee instead of the US dollar with India 🇮🇳. Both countries reached a deal that will see a small part of their bilateral trade transactions settled in their own currencies

💠 Bangladesh is set to make loan repayments in Chinese 🇨🇳 yuan for its nuclear power plant being built by Russia

🔹India 🇮🇳is considering imposing an export ban on four key metals; lithium, beryllium, niobium, and tantalum because of their importance in powering sectors critical to national security and technological advancements. India’s Parliament also passed the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, which will allow commercial mining ⛏in India, of titanium and zirconium addition to the previous mentioned metals. The Bill now awaits the President’s assent.

🔹India discovered a large lithium deposit near Kashmir, this year but is about a decade away from final production. Iran 🇮🇷 discovered its first lithium ore deposit in March, making it the world's 2nd largest reserve. Australia 🇦🇺 has identified at least five mines of of lithium and cobalt for Indian entities to participate in exploration/production. India is discussing the possibility of FTAs with Lithium Triangle countries Peru 🇵🇪 and Chile.

🔹A coalition of US 🇺🇸 tech giants has also protested the abrupt way in which India introduced tech import restrictions this month. The restriction requires Indian companies to get a license before importing PCs, laptops, or servers in hopes of boosting domestic tech production as more countries try to have less dependence on China's 🇨🇳 dominance of critical sectors.

🔹More than 50 companies from around the world are jostling to negotiate lithium deals under the Chilean 🇨🇱 gov't's new plan to have the state take a majority stake in the lithium 🔋industry where the state would take a controlling interest in each partnership. Mexico 🇲🇽 is also reviewing foreign companies that have active mining concessions, with plans to follow in Chile's footsteps.

🔹Saudi Arabia’s 🇸🇦 US Treasury holdings fell to a more than six-year low in June. Saudi Arabia, the largest Middle East holder of US gov't debt, sold more than $3 billion of its shares in June. This brought down Riyadh's total holdings to $108.1 billion, the lowest since December 2016. The Saudi sovereign wealth fund’s disclosed holdings of US 🇺🇸-traded stocks rose almost 10% in value to about $39 billion in the second quarter.

🔹Historically Saudi Arabia used to keep most of its reserves in US Treasuries 💵, but with the country’s diversification strategy Vision 2030 backed by the country’s sovereign wealth fund results in investments being redirected domestically. Oil revenues, are fueling these projects.

🔹Saudi Arabia's cut in oil 🛢 production through OPEC has hindered the US from re-filling its Strategic Petroleum Reserve as oil prices have increased. Closer ties between China and the Middle East have raised concerns in Washington DC 🇺🇸 and European 🇪🇺 capitals after Saudi Arabia signed $10 billion worth of investment agreements with Chinese 🇨🇳companies in June.

🔹The UAE 🇦🇪 offloaded $4 billion worth of US treasury bonds in June, making it the second consecutive month the country sold US government debt. Its holding fell to $65.2 billion from $69 billion in May 2023. Kuwait 🇰🇼 shares of the US debt instrument fell to $40.6 billion in June from $41.4 billion in May. However, much this was off-set by Japan 🇯🇵 increasing US Treasury purchases for June.

🔹China 🇨🇳, the second-biggest holder of US debt, has reduced its stake to the lowest level in more than 14 years. It now holds about $850 billion of US debt, lower than its all-time high of over $1.2 trillion.

Video source - Sean Foo

BRICS Summit highlights. Johannesburg Aug. 22 - 24.

🔹Argentina🇦🇷, Egypt 🇪🇬, the UAE 🇦🇪, Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦, Iran 🇮🇷 and Ethiopia 🇪🇹 will become full-members on Jan. 1, 2024, (the first day of Russia's presidency of BRICS). More than 20 countries have applied to join BRICS as Algeria 🇩🇿 and Indonesia 🇮🇩 are proposed to be the next future members. BRICS will develop a BRICS partner country model for even further expansion.

🔹Member states finance ministries & central banks to consider the possibility of launching national currencies-based payment instruments and platforms. BRICS Payment Task Force to begin study of members cross-border payments systems.

🔹Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development does not expect any "quick breakthroughs" in the creation of a common currency of the BRICS 🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦 nations. There could be, agreements on a basket of local currencies and payment systems so BRICS nations can pay each other based on a set of solutions comparing currency rates.

🔹However, the Russian 🇷🇺 Finance Ministry is discussing the possibility of a unit of account for the BRICS member countries. Not a single currency like in the EU but an alternative to the dollar 💵.

🔹The BRICS Summit declaration states they are in favor of UN 🇺🇳 reform and vow support for the expansion of the developing countries' representation in the UN Security Council. It also cites reforming the WTO and Bretton Woods financial institutions, including the IMF.

🔹India 🇮🇳 offers BRICS countries to establish a space research consortium as they already work on work on a satellite group of BRICS states.

🔹Vietnam will join ASEAN members Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore to establish cross-border payments mechanisms through the Regional Payment Connectivity (RPC) initiative. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to later facilitate cross-border transactions for financial assets like equities and government bonds in local currencies.

🔹These countries have a mandate to include other ASEAN 🇧🇳 🇰🇭 🇮🇩 🇱🇦🇲🇾 🇲🇲 🇵🇭 🇸🇬 🇹🇭 🇻🇳 members in the RPC initiative. Vietnam's financial authority in charge of domestic payment systems is currently in talks with the local industry to agree on a national QR system for 'instant' retail payments.

🔹Last month, Russia 🇷🇺, (meeting with ASEAN) called for starting consultations on the use of national currencies in mutual payments with ASEAN countries to bypass USD 💵 denominated transactions.

🔹ASEAN member Indonesia plan to use local currencies in bilateral trade with India 🇮🇳. In May, South Korea 🇰🇷 and Indonesia 🇮🇩 signed a MoU to cooperate on promoting the use of their currencies for bilateral transactions. The Bank of Indonesia is working on its own domestic card payment system as part of a strategy to reduce dependency on foreign systems and protect transactions from geopolitical fallout.

🔹Last November, an official meeting of all ASEAN nations' Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors was held to discuss reduced dependence on the US Dollar, Euro, Yen, and British Pound from financial transactions and move to settlements in local currencies.

Video source - Bank Indonesia