Poor and marginalized most threatened by trade war – South Africa

Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor has called for a common currency among BRICS nations

Conflict between the world’s leading economic powers threatens smaller and less developed nations, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor has declared.

“The most powerful economies are in a fractious trade conflict that threatens all the smaller economies of the world,” she said in a budget speech in parliament on Wednesday. “The poor and marginalized are facing the greatest threat in that their plight is forgotten while the mighty fight.”

“This is not the world many hoped for when the Cold War ended,” she added.

Successive interest rate hikes have increased the value of the US dollar, a situation that makes it harder for emerging economies to settle trade bills or pay their debts. Speaking to Bloomberg earlier this week, Pandor said that given this unfair playing field and the economic uncertainty caused by Washington’s trade war with China and sanctions on Russia, BRICS nations and other countries are questioning why they are “committed to trading through the dollar."

The BRICS group will “properly discuss” introducing a common currency at its 15th annual summit in South Africa next month, she said.