China, Brazil signing local currency trade deal

[March 26, 2013]  DURBAN, South Africa (AP) -- China and Brazil plan to sign a deal to do up to $30 billion of trade in their local currencies, as the five-nation BRICS forum of emerging market powers work to lessen dependence on the U.S. dollar and euro.

The agreement is to be signed Tuesday ahead of the official opening of a summit bringing together the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and more than a dozen other African leaders.

Brazil's foreign trade minister Fernando Pimentel says the agreement would involve nearly half his country's $75 billion annual trade with China.

The World Bank says that global economic growth increasingly depends on the BRICS countries which account for 27 percent of global purchasing power and include 45 percent of the world's workforce.

[Associated Press]

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