Did BRICS publish a banknote for the group's new currency that is meant to replace the dollar in financial transactions? No, that's not true: The Russian ambassador to South Africa presented a commemorative BRICS banknote as a souvenir to a United Arab Emirates counterpart at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in South Africa in 2023.
The claim appeared in several posts like this video (archived here), published on TikTok on September 14, 2023, under the title "#BRICS #BRICS New Banknote." The video shows a banknote with banners that read (translated from Arabic into English by Lead Stories staff):
The new banknote made by the BRICS countries to rival the dollar has been published
Putin officially announces: I will work to end the dollar dominance
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed September 27 14:58:19 2023 UTC)
According to Reuters, Brazil did propose the idea of establishing a shared currency among the BRICS nations to facilitate trade and investment while mitigating the impact of fluctuations in the U.S. dollar exchange rate. However, officials and economists have highlighted the considerable challenges associated with this initiative, citing the significant economic, political and geographical differences among the five nations.
The bill featured in these posts was a commemorative banknote given by the Russian ambassador in South Africa to his UAE counterpart, Mahash Saeed Alhameli, during the group's 15th summit in Johannesburg in August 2023, as reported by the Russian state news agency TASS,.
