Frustration with global institutions begets parallelism

Remember the BRICS plan to establish a separate multilateral development bank? Now they may be discussing their very own monetary fund. Russia’s deputy finance minister suggested that a parallel institution might be in the offing if the IMF doesn’t quickly enact promised reforms. Via Bloomberg:

The BRICS group of emerging-market economies may set up an anti-crisis fund if their demand for a greater say in the International Monetary Fund is rebuffed, said Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak.China and Russia, holders of the world’s biggest and fourth-largest currency reserves, and the other three BRICS nations have agreed on a system of currency swaps that could later be succeeded by an anti-crisis fund, Storchak told reporters on his way back from Los Cabos, Mexico….

“Practical steps will depend largely on the extent to which the BRICS’ position will be taken on board concerning the allocation of new quotas” in the IMF, he said. “BRICS states have reached a level of development that gives them the right to insist on getting their interests respected.”

The new BRICS anti-crisis fund would function as a “parallel” mechanism that would show there is alternative source of financial support to the IMF, Storchak said.

The BRICS aren’t the only collection of states touting the value of less-than-global multilateralism. This report suggests that the African Union may move forward with plans to launch a regional criminal court, in large part because of frustration with the ICC.