MORE COUNTRIES TO JOIN BRICS THIS YEAR

Iran and Saudi Arabia have put up their hands and asked if they can join the BRICS group. That’s according to the news agency Bloomberg.

BRICS consist of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Whether the group will allow new members and what criteria they would have to meet will be discussed at this year’s BRICS gathering.

Sithembile Ntombela, CEO of Brand South Africa has said that the group is a bloc of influential emerging market economies. Its aim is to collaborate to restructure the global economic multilateral order to make it fairer, more inclusive and more equitable.

Even though these countries account for 24% of the world’s gross domestic product and for about 42% of the world’s population, they collectively hold less than 15% of the voting rights in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Countries that have indicated that they want to join include Iran, Argentine, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia Senegal, Thailand and Kazakhstan.

President Cyril Ramaphosa takes over as the BRICS chairman from 2023.04.04

Image credit: DW