by Billy Kavanagh at IMPAKTER
The BRICS have emerged as a powerful alliance of emerging-market economies over the course of the 21st century. Comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa as their acronym alludes to, the group has increasingly become the bricks and mortar which supports the global economy.
Just this year, the BRICS overtook the G7’s global GDP contribution, with the group accounting for almost one-third of worldwide economic activity. Amid growing economic stagnation in the West, the BRICS even floated the idea of their own global reserve currency, looking to shatter the stranglehold the US Dollar has had since the collapse of Bretton Woods in 1971.
However, the BRICS’s diverse economic and political systems, as well as mounting geo-political tensions with Russia and China, have threatened the group’s progress. As the debate grows around whether Putin will even attend the upcoming conference in South Africa, it has left many wondering whether the project is running out of steam or just getting started.