The BRICS bloc aims to establish a bipolar world order in which member states are one of the pillars of the global economy. BRICS is an acronym for the emerging market bloc that includes five countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Two days ago, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune revealed that his country meets, to a large extent, the conditions that enable it to join the "BRICS" bloc.
In a regular interview with the national press broadcast on Sunday evening, Tebboune said, "For joining the BRICS group, there are economic conditions, which I think are available in a large proportion in Algeria."
In response to a question about whether Algeria has a desire to join this bloc, he said: "We will not pre-empt events, but God willing, there will be good news."
Tebboune spoke of "Algeria's approach to the necessity of striving to establish a new economic system that guarantees parity and equality between different countries," as quoted by the official Algerian News Agency.
The term BRICS is an acronym for the emerging market bloc that includes five countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The bloc mainly aims to create an international balance in the global economic system dominated by the United States with its fiscal and monetary policy, by ending the unipolar policy and finding an effective and real alternative to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that enables member states to grant and exchange loans in a way that does not affect and does not cause any disruption economic, as well as strengthening the global economic safety net for these countries and avoiding the pressures of borrowing from Western institutions and tying them up with benefits.
What is the BRICS bloc?
The BRICS bloc, known for its great influence in regional affairs, which abbreviates the English initials of the constituent countries of the organization: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, was formed in 2006 under the name "BRIC", but after South Africa joined it in 2010, the name changed to "BRICS" countries. .
Since the first summit that brought together the heads of the four founding countries in Russia in June 2009, the BRICS governments have met annually in official summits, the last of which was hosted by India on September 9.
While the main goal behind the establishment of the bloc, which says that it is an independent international organization that works to encourage trade, political and cultural cooperation among its member states, was the establishment of a bipolar world order in which member states would be one of the pillars of the future global economy, whether individually or collectively.
The BRICS bloc is headquartered in Shanghai, China, which also hosts the bloc's New Development Bank. The five members of the group rotate periodically to chair it annually.
BRICS Figures and Facts
The BRICS bloc represents approximately 42% of the world's total population, while its member states cover an area of more than 39 million square kilometers, equivalent to 27% of the land area.
In economic terms, the BRICS economies occupies advanced ranks at the international level, as the nominal GDP of the five BRICS countries in 2018 amounted to about $19.6 trillion, or about 23.3% of the world's total. While the gross domestic product of the common countries (purchasing power parity) amounted to about 40.55 trillion dollars, equivalent to 32% of the global gross domestic product.
The BRICS economies also rank internationally advanced ranks as follows: China is the second in the world, India is the fourth, Russia is the sixth, Brazil is the ninth, and South Africa is the twenty-fifth.
With similar areas of interest and ambitions to the more established Group of Seven (G7), of which Russia was also a member until it was expelled after its 2014 annexation of Crimea, the Group of Seven and the original BRIC countries (without South Africa) make up 11 of the world's 12 largest economies (The other is South Korea), according to the World Bank.
Will BRICS undermine the dominance of the dollar?
Despite the geographical distance between the countries of the bloc, in addition to the economic, regional and political competition and conflicts between the five governments, this does not mean that there is no formal or informal alliance between the BRICS countries, as many political issues showed the degree of coordination within this entity, perhaps the most recent of which was the war Ukraine, China standing by Russia, India buying Russian oil and gas despite Western pressure on it.
The geopolitical importance of these multi-resource countries that occupy strategic positions in the world map must also not be overlooked, as well as their increasing industrial and financial strength, which has enabled them to become major players in the international markets for goods, services, capital, energy and food resources, affecting strongly, and sometimes decisively, their performance. .
However, most experts believe that it is too early to say that in the coming years the representatives of this association will be able to achieve a balance of power in monetary and credit relations with the United States and the European Union, and overcome their long-term dominance in global finance, especially since all this depends on the transfer of monetary units to countries BRICS into influential reserve assets that can pressure the US dollar and the euro in the service of global economic relations and the establishment of large international financial centers in which they can compete on an equal footing with London or New York.