Russian expert says BRICS can establish competitive credit rating agency

MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. The BRICS association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa is capable of establishing a competitive credit rating agency that would be reckoned with by international businesses, Georgy Toloraya, the executive director of the National Committee for BRICS Studies, told TASS on the occasion of a BRICS civil forum opening on Monday. "Credit rating agencies are private companies, but not any state-run institutions of this or that country. However it is worth mentioning that leading rating agencies today are under serious influence from the United States government and the West in general. That is why there are grounds to think that their assessments and ratings might be politically motivated," he said. He said the BRICS had all the reasons to establish its own credit rating agency, which "is to be competitive." "It means that its ratings are to be reckoned with by international businesses, first in what concerns the BRICS countries themselves," the expert said. "These countries should know what is a situation in this or that sector, which companies are reliable and which are not." "In these terms, the agency is to be authoritative and enjoy high demand. I cannot say whether it comes to the BRICS rating agency assigning sovereign ratings to the United States, Japan or Europe, but I cannot say either that this is an unimaginable situation," Toloraya said. Established in June 2006, the BRIC association originally included four countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India and China to be expanded to the BRICS format after South Africa joined it in 2011. The first official summit of the association was held in Russia’s Yekaterinburg in June 2009. Ever since, summit meetings have been held annually in each of the member states alternatively. The latest summit took place in Brazil. Russia took over presidency in the BRICS from April 1, 2015. Read more