Brics’ new Contingent Reserve Arrangement operational: FM

BRICS’ contingent reserve arrangement (CRA) is now operational to deal with any short-term balance of payments pressures the grouping’s member nations face, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said.  

CRA, established in 2015 by BRICS member nations Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a framework for the provision of support through liquidity and precautionary instruments in response to actual or potential short-term balance of payments pressures.

In his address to the meeting of BRICS Finance Ministers and heads of central banks, Jaitley announced the “CRA is now operational” and the central banks of the grouping’s members are “fully ready to carry out” the transactions, a media release said.

Jaitley and his BRICS counterparts are here to attend the annual fall meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.During on Thursday’s meeting, BRICS ministers welcomed the proposal to formalise the setting up of a network of central banks research units that will support the working of CRA.

Jaitley also extended invitation to attend BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting to be held in Goa later this month.

He chaired the Commonwealth Finance Ministers’ Meeting, during which the ‘Economics of Climate Change and Financing Climate Adaptation and Mitigation were discussed and deliberated. 

In the presence of Jaitley, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of Baroda signed an MoU on Commonwealth Small States Trade Finance Facility. This finance facility is expected to make available up to USD 100 million of incremental trade finance over a period of three years.