Emerging economies' payment system a historical necessity

The 16th BRICS Summit, the first since its historic expansion, will be held in Kazan, Russia, from Tuesday to Thursday. Two subjects that have attracted global attention are whether BRICS would expand its membership and, more important, whether this is the right time to introduce a BRICS international payment system.

Since the dawn of civilization, humans have been exploring more convenient and efficient ways of exchanging goods and services to adapt to the continuously expanding economic activities. With the development of society and the improvement of productivity, payment methods have advanced from the barter system to metal currency, from negotiable instruments or fiat currency to plastic money, and from credit currency to digital payment.

The evolution of payment methods reflects the progress of social productivity and technological prowess. No wonder the fragmented regional monetary and payment systems gradually gave way to the current global monetary and global payment systems after the Bretton Woods agreement.