The BRICS group of emerging economies will contribute $100 billion to a fund to steady currency markets destabilised by an expected pullback of U.S. monetary stimulus, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday (September 5).

Putin made the announcement at a meeting of the four powers on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Leaders Summit in St. Petersburg.

China, holder of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves, will contribute the bulk of the currency pool. But it will be much smaller than the $240 billion originally envisaged and officials said it would not be functional for some time yet.

Putin said the capital volume of the pool has been agreed at $100 billion. Earlier China's Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said that Beijing "will take the lion's share of this".

Both Zhu and Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said details still needed to be worked out, suggesting that - beyond the announcement - much more work would need to be done on the reserve facility.

A joint BRICS development bank, with capital of up to $50 billion, is also still months away from realisation amid disagreements over burden sharing and where it should be based.

Presented by Adam Justice

Read more: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/brics-fed-stimulus-cut-forex-rupee-504158