On April 14, 2011, the state development banks of the five BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – signed a framework credit-line agreement to open credit lines to each other in their national currencies. This represents the latest concrete step developing nations have taken to reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar.
China Development Bank (CDB) plans to issue around CNY10 billion of yuan-denominated loans this year to other BRICS nations. Most of these loans will fund oil and gas projects. CDB is in talks with Brazilian state-owned Petrobras regarding further loans to the oil company. China and Brazil reached a $10 billion oil-for-loan deal in 2009, under which Petrobras agreed to supply crude oil to China Petrochemical Corp. for 10 years in exchange for funding from CDB. BRICS countries are moving towards mutually trading each others’ currencies, following Russia’s launch of yuan trading in Moscow at the end of 2010.