Post by account_disabled on Mar 9, 2024 1:35:38 GMT -5
Predictions about the BRICS countries as the fastest growing economies have not come true, at least for the moment. Instead, the alliance now offers a diplomatic forum and financing for development, outside the influence of the West.
The acronym began as a term to describe which were the world's fastest growing economies at the time, in 2001, but now its members (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) are emerging as a group with growing geopolitical influence that can rival the G7.
In 2009, the initial four nations met for their first summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In 2010, South Africa was invited to join the group, adding the "S" to BRICS.
In 2014, with $50 billion, the BRICS Ecuador Mobile Number List launched the New Development Bank as an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Additionally, they created a liquidity mechanism called the Contingent Reserve Arrangement to support members facing difficulties in international payments.
This was attractive not only to the members of this new club, but also to many other developing and emerging economies that had had unpleasant experiences with the IMF's adjustment programs and austerity measures in exchange for loans. That is why many countries said they might be interested in joining the BRICS group.
However, of the five members, only China has achieved sustained and extensive growth since then. While China's GDP grew from $6 trillion in 2010 to nearly $18 trillion in 2021, the economies of Brazil, South Africa and Russia stagnated. India's GDP grew from 1.7 trillion to 3.1 trillion, but it trails far behind the Asian giant.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the BRICS have only distanced themselves further from the West. Neither India, Brazil, South Africa or China are participating in the sanctions against Russia, and this is evidenced by near-historic levels of trade between India and Russia, or by Brazil's dependence on Russian fertilizers.
Currently, it is already the largest GDP bloc in the world, since it currently contributes 31.5% of global GDP, ahead of the G7, which contributes 30.7% and the most predictable is that as inflation hits many Western countries, resulting in slower economic growth, countries with great potential are using this as an opportunity to develop their own economic alternative. In this way, groups like the BRICS will cease to be exclusively economic institutions.
On March 30, Brazil and China announced a trade agreement that would allow them to use the two countries' national currencies, the yuan and the real, respectively, and as the West weakens, other countries see the opportunity to decouple from the dollar, which has allowed Western hegemony for decades.