source: http://southfront.org/brics-economic-power/
BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The grouping was originally known as “BRIC” before the inclusion of South Africa in 2010. The BRICS members are all developing or newly industrialised countries, but they are distinguished by their large, fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional and global affairs; all five are G-20 members. Since 2010, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits. Russia currently holds the chair of the BRICS group.
As of 2015, the five BRICS countries represent over 43% of the world population. The five nations have a combined nominal GDP equivalent to approximately 20% of the gross world product. Bilateral relations among BRICS nations have mainly been conducted on the basis of non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit (win-win). It is estimated that the combined GDP of BRICS would reach US$50 trillion mark by 2020.
(go to http://southfront.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BRICS.jpg for high resolution full size image)
..and they also have more than 50% of the global financial capital! (at least back in 2012)
http://www.europac.com/commentaries/brics_plan_future
Go BRICS!
As more countries join them (as I hope they will) they will need to change the name.Just adding letters won’t really work if more countries are added.
From Counterpunch: an article about possible economic warfare on China ( see point #16)
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/27/making-sense-of-chinas-stock-market-meltdown/
BRICS has enormous potential, but is currently held back by their lack of financial/monetary sovereignty:
6/3/15 http://www.voltairenet.org/article188188.html
” modus operandi of both institutions revealed that neither of them stimulates the process of de-dollarization [1]. The credits of the New Development Bank are denominated in US dollars. The same goes for the liquidity that the Contingent Reserve Arrangement provides. Furthermore, the endorsement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) [2] will be necessary to act as a stabiliser for the BRICS’ balances of payment [3].
“China only stimulates the use of the yuan by means of bilateral agreements and by that wastes the extraordinary potential of its institutions for the financing of infrastructure, which are mostly supported by emerging economies. The operations of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Silk Road Fund, and the BRICS’ New Development Bank all take place in US dollars.”
The author, Ariel Noyola Rodríguez, Says that currency swaps among the five (except Russia/China) haven’t occurred cuz trade & investment among them is tiny. She outlines the steps necessary to turn BRICS into a force for change.
1] «BRICS and the Fiction of “De-Dollarization”», Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, April 8, 2015.
The more I learn, the more it seems necessary that the people of the world begin to express the kind of non-oligarchic world that WE want:
“Are the BRICS effective serving as sub-imperialists by better integrating the regions into global neoliberal capitalism? Or are they empowering emerging economies by offering a wider range of economic choice?
“It also implies that we can expect greater variation in macroeconomic policy with different states and regions making these choices in different ways. However, what constitutes a significant difference from the neoliberal norm is a matter of vigorous debate.
“Given the elite bias of most policies, this politics does not necessarily lead to democratic political outcomes such as greater democracy at home. It is better understood in terms of greater pluralism in elite forums of international politics and economics.”
Laurence Piper, The Conversation
I dont think they are trying to “serving as sub-imperialists by better integrating the regions into global neoliberal capitalism”
However, changes that reduces the power/influence of the existing status quo will be tough, and likely to be countered by existing elites, e.g. TPP, TTIP, etc all designed to make the existing elites even more powerful.
It will be a tough road ahead, but we know that already!
No, that’s basically what Brazil India and South Africa are doing.
I don’t understand why the poster above is accusing China and Russia of that though.
Massinissa,
I am not accusing anyone. You are accustomed to hearing much cheerleading characterization of BRICS. I am instead giving you facts (as quotations from articles).
We want to know what the BRICS institutions are actually doing, don’t we?
Here is something good about the development bank:
8/5/15 NDB capable of accumulating as much as $400 billion in capital, according to its president, Kundapur Vaman Kamath. Later, it plans to focus on funding such ventures in other developing nations across the Global South—all in their own currencies, which means bypassing the US dollar. Given its membership, the NDB’s money will clearly be closely linked to the new Silk Roads. As Brazilian Development Bank President Luciano Coutinho stressed, in the near future it may also assist European non-EU member states like Serbia and Macedonia. Think of this as the NDB’s attempt to break a Brussels monopoly on Greater Europe. Kamath even advanced the possibility of someday aiding in the reconstruction of Syria.
And here is something not so good:
Change is urgently needed yet the BRICS’ finance bureaucrats – especially two leading appointees from South Africa – won’t deviate from orthodoxy. Ongoing financial turbulence should offer a gap for the $100 billion Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), which is anticipated to open its doors next month. However, it carries not only a strange name that even many insider experts often get wrong, but is dollar-denominated and structurally hard-wired to support the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
To illustrate,” according to CRA rules agreed at last year’s BRICS Fortaleza summit, after 30% of a country’s quota is borrowed – based on double the amount of its own contributions (China at $41 billion, and Brazil, Russia and India at $18 billion each, and South Africa at $5 billion) – then the borrower must next sign a neoliberal IMF agreement.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/10/brics-bankers-confirm-they-will-undergird-not-undermine-western-financial-decadence/
I would wager that is a China-backed decision which ties in with China’s attempts to get the Yuan into IMF basket of reserve currencies.
The decision is supposed to be made later this year – November 2015 for inclusion next year – October 2016. At least we should have more clarity on this whole situation in a few months.
If China is impeded by the IMF you can expect conditions like this to evolve and change away from the IMF supported model.
“Let’s hope ‘The BRICS’ won’t turn into ‘The Wall.'” – Dick von Dyke, closet Free Mason, and free finger artist [in his spare time].
@Daniel Rich on August 27, 2015 · at 9:27 pm UTC
Everything is going well as it was planed even it doesn’t look like…………Nobody will reveal their plan before it will be implemented
“Let’s hope ‘The BRICS’ won’t turn into ‘The Wall.’”
:-)
Indeed.
The thing is, India and Brazil and to a lesser extent south Africa, are incredibly unstable. They are awful, violent places. In places in india people are still burned as witches, about two thousand a year. in other parts India deals with Insurgencies such as Maoists as well as separatist groups in the northeast near Bengal and islamists near the border with Pakistan. And for years there has been an alarming surge of farmer suicides due to a mix of factors ranging from Monsanto’s encroachment in the region to predatory microfinance companies
As for Brazil, the drug gangs are so powerful that there are towns where the police cannot go. There is incredible violence by the police both against the drug gangs but also the civlilian population. It is confirmed that the Brazilian police kill almost ten times as many people per year as the united states, with only around a third or quarter of those deaths being associated with the drug gangs. Most of those shot are black. Its like the United States police state on crack.
Russia and China are largely fine and stable, but Brazil and India have such insurmountable problems. I am not even cracking the surface. South Africa has had a multitude of problems for many years as well, though on a smaller scale than India or Brazil.
I honestly don’t even like the term BRICS. the BIS is on another level than the RC.
@ Massinissa,
Claiming this, that and the other thing is wonderful, but wold you be kind enough to provide verifiable links to back them up?
Brazil first.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/world/americas/brazil-police-killed-11000-people-over-five-year-period-report-says.html?_r=0
Ok, I exxagerated a bit, it was 6x and not 10x. My bad. 6 times as many is still ridiculous though, even with the drug war.
In 30 years America has killed 1200. Brazil police have killed that many in just under 5 years. You can google Brazil Police Violence for more info, this link is just one to prove the veracity of my claim, if you want more info on that go find it.
As for witches in India, I overexagerrated that too. My bad. It was just 200 a year not 2000. My bad. I remembered wrong. I entirely apologize and admit my error, I just remembered an extra 0 by accident. So sorry.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/article533407.ece
Now, lets see, farmer suicides in India.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/05/india-shocking-farmer-suicide-epidemic-150513121717412.html
Thats 300,000 farmer suicides in just 20 years. 300,000. Mostly due to predatory microfinance loans. Thats goddamn 15,000 a year. So much for Indias growing economy, right? Like in the west, its only growing for the WEALTHy Indians, not the poor. India has the worst wealth inequality in BRICS. Worse than Brazil and SA.
IMO India is the major weak link of the five, especially considering that India is arguably the most pro-US, even compared to SA.
As for other things, like the Maoists in India, cant you just google those things? This should be enough for now, if theres something in particular you are having trouble finding ask and I will try to find the information, but really, it isnt hard to google most of this stuff.
Russia and China are strong and stable, but the others just arnt.
Im sorry, its late and im very tired, it turns out the police killings in brazil is only twice as much as the US. Im very very tired.
Just ignore that and look up farmer suicides in India or something instead. Im so sorry.
Im just really tired and cant process information right now very well.
By the way, while im writing this, I may as well add, about those Maoists. Theyre called Naxalites, with most of them affiliated with the Communist Party of India, which has been trying to overthrow the local governments.
Theyre in the poorest regions of India, so in a way they do terrorism due to real grievances, implorable as their methods are. Theyve died down a little from a couple years ago, but theyre still accounting for half of all terrorism deaths in India, at 192 in 2013. Wikipedia has a good article on them.
There are also separatists in the northeast regions like Assam but theyre less of a problem than the maoists.
Russia, China and SA dont have such insurgency problems, though Brazils drug wars are comparable.
Again im so sorry about exxagerating the extent of the Brazil police killings. I was just so tired.
@Daniel Rich, Brazil has a higher violent crime rate than USA, look up some statistics. Also look on Bestgore where much of the bizarre crimes happen in Brazil and Thailand. Brazil seems to be a rather pussy-whipped country far worse than even the US. A 10-year-old boy was beaten by a lynch mob because of suspicions he raped a girl.
http://www.bestgore.com/torture/10-year-old-brazil-kid-brutal-beating-flip-flops-alleged-rape-5-year-old/
Brazil is a $%^&* up, violent country as bad if not worse than America. Maybe it has the potential to improve in the future but who knows. I’m not holding my breath.
And for all that? Brazil might not even be as $%^& as India.
Lol 2000 out of 1.2billion, surprised he didn’t bring up a rape rate of below 2/100,000 vs 30+ for Us/uk/sweden lol!
He’s just a catholic/protestant missionary!
You do realize that in India, as in all countries, most rapes are not reported right?
For many cultures being raped is a shameful thing so women dont tell anyone when it happens.
We simply have no way of knowing how many rapes actually occur in India.
Mahabharat is a good example, so is the fact that our ideology is native to our culture & does not allow it.
I.e Crislamists have raped 100s of millions, the catholic//protestant west is trying to claim a moral high ground. Simply to distract from the black/muslim refugee rape crisis in us/eu.
Nothing more to say,
Fact is you forget that Hindu men will kill entire countries over one daughter/sister even being touched or looked at wrong. lol
ਸਤਿਸ਼੍ਰੀਅਕਾਲ।।
BRICS currently represent 43% of the global population. A lot, but that is still a minority.
I would like to see that breach 50%. That would give them a louder voice.
“We represent over half of humanity” they could say. It would represent great propaganda value to say that and use that as an answer to anything they’re doing.
If one looks at the G20, they should immediately try and include Indonesia 250 million. Other countries to look at then would be Iran, Argentina, Egypt & Thailand.
Then you have large and poor countries like Nigeria, Pakistan & Bangladesh. These 3 countries are the only 3 countries in the Top 11 countries by population that aren’t in the G20.
Western style banking
http://www.realecontv.com/videos/central-banks/the-dubious-glories-of-central-planning.html