BRICS is an acronym for a list of countries comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Argentina, Iran, Algeria, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Turkey and Venezuela have all applied to become registered members of the BRICS.
Four out of the five founding country members of BRICS, with the exclusion of South Africa, recently topped the top ten list of emerging economies around the world. China hosted the group’s last meeting in July 2022.
What has BRICS done so far
BRICS birthed an initiative in 2014 called the New Development Bank (NDB) to support economic growth, promote healthy competitiveness and job creation, establish a knowledge-sharing platform among developing countries and promote the development of its member nations.
- Amongst NDB’s achievements, BRICS boasts of approving 70 infrastructure and sustainable development projects, establishing a partnership with significant development banks, (such as the World Bank Group), achieving a credit rating of AA+, lending money in local currencies to protect borrowing countries from a stronger dollar, etc.
BRICS member nations have also signed a treaty establishing a contingent reserve arrangement to prevent a short-term balance of payment pressures, provide support and ensure the financial stability of BRICS members.
BRICS is creating an alternative payment system to the SWIFT platform following Russia’s cancellation of the payment system. BRICS nation also has a standing trade agreement among their members to coordinate and ease trade transport.
BRICS nations have also launched a remote sensing satellite with two from India, two from China, one from Russia, and one from a Brazil-China collaboration.
What you should know
The British Economist Jim O’Neill formed BRICS in 2001. The founding members were the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, earning the name BRIC. Later in 2010, South Africa joined the group, hence the term BRICS.
BRICS member nations collate five of the largest developing countries in the world, representing 41 per cent of the global population, 24 per cent of the global GDP and 16% of the global trade.
BRICS is an economic alliance that would rival the G7 soon.