Lula in favor of Argentina joining the BRICS group

The Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvasaid on Tuesday that he wanted Argentina join the group BRICS from emerging countries, at a time when Brazil’s neighbor is struggling with a lack of foreign exchange reserves.

“It is very important for Argentina to be in the BRICS”Lula said in a live broadcast on social media while attending the bloc’s summit in South Africa.

BRICS, which is not a formal multilateral organization, focuses on boosting economic and trade cooperation among member countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Argentina suffers from high inflation, depleted foreign currency reserves and must pay down debts as part of a $44 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Lula criticized the IMF loans as “suffocating” and hinted at the possibility of the BRICS bank increasing lending to other countries with “different criteria” to stimulate their economies.

The Brazilian leader was also in favor of other countries joining the alliance, but did not mention any. More than 40 countries, including Argentina, have expressed interest in joining the BRICS, according to South African officials.

“We want the BRICS to be a multilateral institution, not an exclusive club”said Lula, although he added that the new members must meet certain conditions so that the group does not become a “Babel Tower”.

Lula has defended the creation of a common currency for trade between the BRICS countries, stating on Tuesday that the objective would not be “decline” the US dollar, but to facilitate trade between emerging nations.

Neither does the bloc claim to be a rival to the United States or to formal organizations such as the Group of Seven (G7) or the Group of 20 (G20), added Lula, but rather “organize” the so-called Global South.

“We do not want to be a counterpoint to the G7, the G20 or the United States”Lula said. “We just want to organize.”

Source: Reuters