BRICS versus G7
BRICS is an acronym that stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa forming a group of developing countries and emerging economies of the world.
This group has primarily been formed to counter growing influence of Group of Seven popularly known as G7, a group of the developed and wealthiest countries of the world which is spearheaded by the USA and includes UK, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and Japan.
It’s interesting to know that as of 2020, G7 members largely make IMF advanced economies and account for almost half of global net wealth amounting to over 200 trillion dollars, roughly equivalent to 42 % of global gross domestic product (GDP) and around 10 % of the world’s population.
But when we talk of BRICS which consists of developing countries and emerging economies of the world, currently, it represents around 23% world’s GDP and about 42% of global population. But, after the number of BRICS counties rise to 11 following the inclusion of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia and Argentina, the enlarged group called BRICS Plus will account for 30% of global GDP and would represent 46.5% of world’s population.
As for BRICS, it’s led by China. Both China and Russia who wield dominant influence in the group have recently floated a proposal to have a common currency of the group or at least trade in local currencies, thus reducing dependence on the US dollar, but the proposal has no more than a snowball’s chance in hell of gaining unanimous support of the members given Brazil and India’s opposition because both the countries are closely aligned with the US and are in favour of protecting US interests. The strong likelihood is that both the countries wouldn’t go against the grain.
However, all the group members have unanimously endorsed the proposal presented by China of changing the name of the group from BRICS to BRICS Plus in a meeting recently held in Johannesburg, the provincial capital of one of the provinces of South Africa.
In the recently held meeting in Johannesburg as mentioned above, BRICS on 24 August invited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirate (UAE), Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia and Argentina to join as members. Although, China has earnestly been pleading to include Pakistan in the group, it has not been able to get a unanimous consent of the members due to intense opposition by India under US influence. Pakistan also doesn’t evince keen interest to join the group.
Lastly, it’s worth noting here that the US wields much more influence and political clout over G7 countries than China does over BRICS. G7 member countries can’t go against the US wish and have to toe the US policy on key issues, while member countries of BRICS show the guts not to see eye to eye with China over major as well as minor issues.
For instance, as mentioned earlier, in the recent summit meeting held in Johannesburg, Brazil and India opposed the proposal floated by China to have their own common currency or at least trade in local currencies in order to shed dependence on US dollar. Likewise, China wants to include Pakistan in the group, but has not been successful due to intense opposition from India.
Moreover, BRICS members also disagree on certain key issues like Brazil and India’s desire to become permanent members of UN Security Council. China and Russia remain noncommittal on the issue. This shows that serious disagreement on various issues exits within the group.