Saturday, March 25, 2023
News and Views from the Global South
BRICS
Where Is the Global Economy Heading?
In a passage in Charles Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle, he condemns an egalitarian native people at the tip of South America to remain primitive.
Global Trade Winds Leave the Poor Gasping
For years, it was the power chamber at the headquarters of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva - the Director General’s Conference Room, more popularly known as the Green Room, where a handful of delegates would gather for important discussions and meetings.
The Emerging Economies and the G20 Summit at St. Petersburg
The eighth G20 Summit convened in St. Petersburg on Sept. 5-6, 2013 was dominated by the Syrian crisis, deflecting attention from the mandate of the gathering to serve as the premier forum for international economic coordination.
Quantitative Easing: Impact on Emerging and Developing Economies
The global economy is awash with successive waves of liquidity generated over the past few years by the four most advanced economies, viz., the United States, the European Union, (EU), Japan and the United Kingdom, known as the G4. This liquidity has taken the form of “quantitative easing” (QE).Cyprus Readies for Reopening of Banks
Cyprus is finalising capital control measures to prevent a run on the banks by depositors anxious about their savings after the country agreed a painful rescue package with international lenders.
OP-ED: The BRICS and the Rising South
On Tuesday, leaders of five large emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, known as the BRICS – will gather in Durban, South Africa to discuss harnessing their formidable resources on behalf of faster development progress in Africa and elsewhere.
Tourism Lies at the Heart of the BRICS
As tourism between the emerging nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa starts to increase, South Africa is determined to weld the iron while it is hot.
BRICS Summit Means Business
African nations and other emerging countries are expected to soon outperform the developed world, and South Africa wants to take advantage.
BRICS Invest in National Priorities
A leading South African economist and investment strategist has warned that national priorities may be a more compelling factor influencing business decisions in the BRICS group of countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – than the prospects of increased market access through the alliance.
South Africa-Brazil Trade Partnership Hits Potholes
As the five members of the BRICS group of emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – tighten ranks and seek to expand their global influence, the inevitable trade spats have begun.
BRICS Seeks New Dialogue with Africa
South Africa plans to boost links between Africa and its partners in the Brazil, Russia, India and China alliance at a landmark summit, which will be held in this country in March, Xavier Carim, deputy director general at the Department of Trade and Industry, told IPS.
Q&A: Will the BRICS Bury IBSA?
China’s presence in the leading developing nations alliance of Brazil, Russia, India and China has given the bloc an advantage that another developing nations club, India, Brazil and South Africa, has hitherto been lacking, according to Peter Draper, one of South Africa’s leading experts on international relations and trade.
South-South Political Alliances Yet to Influence Business
Politicians in the leading developing nations have been active in boosting mutual ties, as one way of counterbalancing the influence of the developed world. But the economic success of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and the India, Brazil, and South Africa groupings will depend on the extent to which businesses take advantage of the new opportunities which are being created.
Q&A: The Challenges of Women’s Empowerment and Equality
Today, approximately 125 countries have laws that penalise domestic violence - a great advance from a decade ago. Yet 603 million women around the world still live in countries where domestic violence is not a crime, and up to seven in ten women are targeted for physical or sexual violence, or both.
Wine to China
South Africa and China are partners within a club of leading emerging markets, and it would seem natural that exports of South African wine to the Chinese market should be surging.
Building BRICS
Will the BRICS expand into the BRICSIT?
Brazil Frustrated with European “Backtracking” on IMF Reforms
In the aftermath of last week’s elections to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s executive board, Brazil and others are expressing frustration that a reforms process aimed at increasing the representation of developing countries is being stymied by European countries.
EU Seeks Protection from Emerging Economies
For many years, the European Union (EU) and its individual member states counted among the strongest advocates for free trade, arguing that it would boost economic growth and welfare both at home and abroad.
China Keen to Reverse Negative Image in Africa
The reality of Indian and Chinese investment in Africa is much more complex than the good cop, bad cop image of Asia’s two emerging economic giants.Brazil and China, Oiling the Wheels of Business
China's voracious demand for energy has prompted it to embrace Brazil as a major oil partner, fuelling the dramatic expansion of Chinese companies in this South American country. But while some see this as a boost to the Brazilian economy, others fear that it poses a risk to this country’s future self-sufficiency.Russia Still Struggling to Gain Foothold in Africa
As Russia’s new president Vladimir Putin begins a new phase of economic growth, trade experts are keeping a watchful eye on Moscow’s policies with the African continent, which they see as a huge, untapped source of economic opportunity.« Previous Page
BRICS is the acronym for a group of five leading emerging economies, namely: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which joined the association (then called BRIC) in 2010. Each of the member states is a major player in the global economy, though all are classified as developing or ‘newly industrialised’ countries. As G-20 members, the BRICS have large, rapidly growing economies, with the ability to shape regional and global trade. Together, these nations represent some three billion people and have a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of over 16 trillion dollars, in addition to roughly four trillion dollars’ worth of foreign reserves. Early this year, they counted for 18 percent of the global economy. South Africa hosted the 2013 BRICS summit in Durban, which marked the association’s fifth global session. The 2014 gathering took place in Fortaleza, Brazil, during which member states discussed, among others, the possible admittance of Argentina as the sixth member. The southwestern Russian city of Ufa will play host to the 2015 summit.
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