Chinese state media calls former Goldman Sachs banker 'the father of BRICS'
He has also been the chairman of the Chatham House
In a piece from mid-August of this year, just ahead of the BRICS summit in South Africa, Chinese state media outlet Global Times openly acknowledged that ‘the father of BRICS’ is the former Goldman Sachs banker Jim O’Neill although that last little curious detail was euphemized into him being ‘a renowned British economist’:
The 15th BRICS Summit will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 22 to 24, 2023. At this year's meeting, the feasibility of a common BRICS currency, the internationalization of the Chinese Yuan, the growth prospects of emerging economies such as China, and the role of the BRICS in global governance will be the focal points of discussion.
With these questions in mind, Global Times reporters Xie Wenting and Bai Yunyi (GT) recently interviewed Jim O'Neill (O'Neill), a renowned British economist and former commercial secretary to the UK Treasury, who is also known as the "father of BRICS." In 2001, O'Neill first proposed the concept of "BRICS" and predicted that the share of BRICS countries in the global economy would rise significantly, hence earning him his title.
Jim O’Neill is also former chairman of the Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The Chatham House can most easily be described as the British twin-brother of the more (in)famous Council on Foreign Relations. Let’s look at their profile of him:
Lord O’Neill of Gatley is a member of the House of Lords, sitting on the cross benches since he stepped down as Commercial Secretary to the Treasury in September 2016.
In July 2021, Lord O’Neill became a member of the panel of Senior Advisors to Chatham House, having finished his term as Chair.
Jim, creator of the acronym ‘BRIC’, worked for Goldman Sachs from 1995 until April 2013, spending most of his time there as Chief Economist.
A former Chief Economist of Goldman Sachs who’s also been the chairman of the British twin-brother of the Council on Foreign Relations is the creator of the concept of BRIC(S). And it is openly acknowledged by Chinese state media.
But it doesn’t stop there - earlier this year he also criticized the all-too dominant role of the dollar, wishing for ‘a globally fairer, multi-currency global system’. As per Bloomberg:
Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chief economist who coined the acronym BRIC, said the bloc of nations that later adopted the name should expand and work to counter the dollar’s dominance.
In a paper published in the Global Policy journal on March 26, O’Neill called on the group to apply strict criteria to ensure the addition of any new members to its ranks helps further its aims and urged it to focus on climate finance, improving healthcare and boosting trade.
“The US dollar plays a far too dominant role in global finance,” he wrote. “Whenever the Federal Reserve Board has embarked on periods of monetary tightening, or the opposite, loosening, the consequences on the value of the dollar and the knock-on effects have been dramatic.”
Brazil, Russia, India and China established BRIC in 2009 and the bloc became BRICS a year later when South Africa was admitted. If it expands to include other “emerging nations with persistent surpluses,” a globally fairer, multi-currency global system could emerge, O’Neill said.
He argues that the dollar’s dominance means the burden of dollar-denominated debt for other nations rises and falls with the exchange rate, destabilizing their own monetary policy, with the greenback’s movements ultimately playing a larger role than domestic decisions.
It appears that the concept of a multipolar world has some surprising proponents.