what is brics 
brics is an acronym for brazil russia india china and south africa the term was initially created as bric without south africa by goldman sachs economist jim o neill in 2001 he believed that by 2050 the four bric economies would come to dominate the global economy south africa was added to the list in 2010 the brics countries operate as an organization that seeks to further economic cooperation amongst member nations and increase their economic and political standing in the world 1understanding bricsbrazil russia india china and south africa ranked among the world s fastest growing emerging market economies for years this was thanks to low labor costs favorable demographics and abundant natural resources at a time of a global commodities boom the group has a set of joint priorities including the goldman sachs thesis didn t suggest that these countries would become a political alliance like the european union eu or even a formal trading association like the eurasian economic union eaeu instead the investment banking firm believed that these countries had the potential to form a powerful economic bloc even as it acknowledged that its forecasts were optimistic and dependent on significant policy assumptions still the implication was that economic power would bring political power and indeed leaders from brics countries regularly attended summits together and often acted in concert with each others interests 3according to brics the gdp of their nations accounts for 31 5 of global gdp as of 2023 compared to the 30 7 of the g7 nations 4history of bricsbrics sees itself as countering the traditional western led global order with some member states viewing the organization as a way to boost their influence around the world still the nations may disagree on fundamental factors such as transparency and a balanced approach which may hinder the growth of the group 4the group operates as an informal confederation of nations that meets annually at the brics convention there members and heads of state seek to build economic cooperation between the nations the head of state of a member nation acts as the chairman of the group rotating once a year informal meetings began in 2006 but the group s first official meeting was on june 16 2009 in yekaterinburg russia 5because of their economic power and the appeal of disentangling from the west to a degree brics claims that over 40 countries seek to join the group it announced that it invited additional countries to join the group at its 2023 summit full membership will be granted to argentina ethiopia iran saudi arabia egypt and the united arab emirates on jan 1 2024 6the brics thesis of a non western global order became conventional market wisdom in the aughts but there were always skeptics including some who claimed the term was goldman marketing hype for its brics focused investment fund 9goldman sachs bric thesisin 2001 goldman sach s o neill noted that while global gross domestic product gdp was set to rise 1 7 in 2002 bric nations were forecasted to grow more quickly than the group of seven g7 the g7 are the world s seven most advanced global economies canada france germany italy japan the united kingdom and the u s in the paper building better economic brics o neill outlined his view of the potential of the bric nations 3in 2003 o neill s goldman colleagues dominic wilson and roopa purushothaman followed up with their report dreaming with brics the path to 2050 the two authors claimed that by 2050 the bric cluster could grow to a size larger than the g6 the g7 minus russia and the world s largest economies would therefore look drastically different in four decades that is the largest global economic powers no longer would be the richest according to income per capita 10in 2007 goldman published another report brics and beyond that focused on bric s growth potential the environmental impact of these growing economies and the sustainability of their rise the report also outlined a next 11 a term for 11 emerging economies in relationship to the bric nations as well as the ascendancy of new global markets 11closure of goldman s brics fundgrowth in the brics economies slowed down after the global financial crisis of 2007 2008 and the oil price collapse that began in 2014 by 2015 the brics acronym no longer looked like an attractive investment venue and funds aimed at these economies either shut down or merged with other investment vehicles 9goldman sachs merged its brics investment fund which was focused on generating returns from these economies with its broader emerging markets equity fund the fund lost 88 of its assets from a 2010 peak 12in a filing with the securities and exchange commission sec goldman sachs stated that it did not expect significant asset growth in the foreseeable future in the brics fund per a bloomberg report the fund lost 21 in five years 139