Russia calls on Brics partners to create alternative to IMF

Russia, which chairs the Brics group this year, has called on its partners to create an alternative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to counter political pressure from Western nations ahead of the Brics summit later this month. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who is hosting the meeting, said the global financial system is controlled by Western countries and that the group, which represents 37 per cent of the global economy, needs to create an alternative. “The IMF and the World Bank are not performing their roles. They are not working in the interests of Brics countries,” Siluanov said at an event on the first day of the meeting. “It is necessary to form new conditions or even new institutions, similar to the Bretton Woods institutions, but within the framework of our community, within the framework of Brics,” Siluanov added.