The BRICS economic alliance is headed toward what may be the most important event in its history. The bloc’s annual summit has become a vital meeting for the group. Moreover, this year’s iteration looks to be filled with the potential for groundbreaking developments to arise. Specifically, the BRICS collective is expected to share 3 major announcements throughout its 2024 annual summit.
In 2023, the group enacted its first expansion since 2001. A landmark moment for the bloc, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Ethiopia, and Iran joining the bloc. With its members now reaching nine, there are some thoughts that this year’s announcements could be even more groundbreaking.

Amid the alliance’s continued efforts to create a SWIFT alternative, the economic alliance has sought to create its very own BRICS payment system. It will play a major role in the alliance trade dealings. Specifically, allowing unilateral settlement to be done without the need for the US dollar.

The move is poised to be vital for the bloc and participating nations, and it appears there will be a lot of them. According to one Russian official, there are already 159 countries seeking to adopt the system currently. With a potential launch coming in October, it could have massive global market ramifications.

Naira recovers as dollar supply rises by 63%
Naira recovers as dollar supply rises by 63%
Odinaka Anudu
Hope Moses-Ashike

August 1, 2024

The invisible hands in the fall of the naira
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The naira on Wednesday recovered from a week-long losses, following an increase in dollar supply by 62.81 percent at the official foreign exchange (FX) market.
After trading on Wednesday, the naira gained 0.76 percent as the dollar was quoted at N1,608.73 compared to N1,621.12 seen on Tuesday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), according to the data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited.
The dollar supplied by willing buyers and willing sellers increased by 62.81 percent to $270.81 million on Wednesday from $166.34 million recorded on Tuesday.

From next April, Canadian nationals, along with those from Germany, the US, the UK and 29 other countries, will require a visa for entry.
These include all “non-reciprocating countries” - meaning the new visa rules will affect citizens from all countries that require Namibian passport holders to have visas.
“Namibia has extended gestures of goodwill and favourable treatment to nationals of various countries. However, despite these efforts, certain nations have not reciprocated,” Namibia’s immigration ministry said in May.
“In light of this disparity, the government has deemed it necessary to implement a visa requirement to ensure parity and fairness in diplomatic interactions.”
But these visitors will be able to buy their 90-day visa, costing $90, on arrival in Namibia - unlike the onerous requirements placed on African passport holders who need to get their visas beforehand.
The British High Commissioner to Namibia, Charles Moore, said he respected the right of Namibia to impose new regulations.
“[The UK] unfortunately imposed a visa regime on Namibia last year due to the number of asylum seekers we were receiving. That was impacting on our relationship with Namibia,” he said.

In Barcelona visitors have been sprayed with water pistols in an expression of local people’s anger about over-tourism. By contrast in Copenhagen, tourists are to be given financial and other incentives to come – as long as they act responsibly.

The Danish capital appears to be bucking the trend of other travel hotspots struggling under the burden of too many tourists, by attempting to lure only the well-behaved, socially and environmentally conscious traveller.

The national tourist board has introduced a programme to encourage climate-friendly, sustainable behaviour. From Monday, it will reward those who choose to ride a bike, take public transport or undergo a bit of work like gardening or rubbish collection at the harbour or in the city’s parks.

Saudi Arabia is yet to confirm if it wants to join the BRICS alliance and has kept the decision on hold for over a year. BRICS invited Saudi Arabia to join the bloc during the 2023 summit and the Kingdom is yet to accept the invitation and provide an answer. On the heels of deciding on BRICS, Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil giant Aramco has started issuing US dollar-denominated bonds.

These bonds are solely aimed at institutional investors. The issuance is managed by leading US banks such as Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, and SNB Capital, among others. Therefore, Saudi Arabia is working closely with the US institutional banks for the dollar-denominated bonds while pausing the BRICS invitation