The idea of establishing an alternative credit rating agency led by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA) bloc of countries is gaining momentum. But there are questions as to whether it will prosper given the major challenges it’s bound to face. Leaders from the bloc are championing the idea, which emerged during the 2015 BRICS summit in Ufa and was affirmed by the Goa Declaration at the eighth BRICS summit. Most recently, SA’s President Jacob Zuma said BRICS countries had taken the decision that they could rate themselves, and perhaps others too. The aim would be to ensure a more "balanced view" when ratings are made. Both Brazil and Russia have recently been downgraded by Moody’s, and for more than a year SA has lived with a possible downgrade by the "big three" Western credit rating agencies, S&P’s, Moody’s and Fitch. The three agencies have faced increasing criticism. Critics claim that the frequent downgrades of developing countries are unjust and serve Western politi...
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