Current situation

As we have already mentioned before, even though the term “BRICS” is quite brand-new, their economic networks and transnational connections are amazingly meaningful nowadays.

At present, they account for about one fourth of the world’s GNP, even though their population is approximately 40% of the world’s total. 

Originally the first four were grouped as “BRIC” (or “the BRICs”). In 2010, South Africa began efforts to join the BRIC grouping, and the process for its formal admission began in August of that year. South Africa officially became a member nation on 24th December 2010, after being formally invited by the BRIC countries to join the group. The group was renamed BRICS.

We have already cleared up that when the term “BRICS countries” was born (2001) there wasn’t a real institution behind or an official diplomatic relationship among them which warranted the creation of the term. However, in the following years these relationships and connections have materialized and currently are actually real. 

Nowadays, the BRICS nations meet annually at formal summits. These summits commenced in 2009 and the first one was held in Yekaterinburg (Russia) on 16th June. South Africa didn’t take part of that summit since it wasn’t an official partner yet. In April 2011, the President of South Africa (Jacob Zuma) attended the BRICS summit for the first time in Sanya (China). The 9th BRICS summit took place in Xiamen (China) in 2017 and the most recent 10th BRICS summit was hosted by South Africa in July 2018. 

                                           The BRICS leaders in 2017 (Temer, Putin, Xi, Zuma and Modi) (1)

Since the conception of the BRICS acronym by Goldman Sachs in 2001 for its forecasts of global economic trends, there is a little doubt that the BRICS countries have emerged as global economic players. Until recently considered developing countries, the members of this group seem to be on their way to becoming also a capital-exporting countries, as well as attractive destinations for investment, as evident from their rising outbound foreign direct investment rates in recent years. (M.I. Hernández Gómez, 2012)

Indeed, a study by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) indicated that outbound foreign direct investment by the BRICS had increased from USD 7 billion in 2000 to USD 126 billion in 2012. (UNCTAD, 2013) Investing mainly in search of markets in developed countries or in the context of regional value chains, the BRICS have gone from a timid share of 1% in world flows in 2002 to a substantial 9% share 10 years thereafter.

The current situation when it comes to the BRICS’ rising economies makes it possible for them to act as exporters of capital and technology with regard to some group of countries, and as importers with regard to others. This duality can be seen in the economic relations with one and the same country or group of countries (for instance Russia can act as importer of technology with regard to certain industrial sectors and as exporter with regard to others- such as the space industry, military industry and some fields of medicine). Similar tendencies can be identified in the export and import of capital. (Danil V. Vinnitskiy, 2015)

When it comes to the population, four out of five members (excluding South Africa) are in the top 10 of the world by population. We should take this information under consideration, since 2 BRICS countries (in this case, China and India) are the 2 most populated countries in the world. Currently, China means 18,2% of the total world’s population, followed by India with a 17,5%. 

Brazil is the 5th most populated country with a 2,74% and Russia the 9th one with 1,92%. South Africa means 0,75% of the world’s total population and it is the 24th most populated country in the world. 

In contrast, when it comes to the land they own, Russia is the biggest country in the world, China is the 3rd country with more km2, Brazil the 5th and India the 7th. Again, we find South Africa much further (24th country with more land). 

1. BARATA, Beto. 2017 [Photography]