On the first day of 2024, five new countries joined the BRICS alliance of major emerging economies: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates.
This increased the group’s influence and presence in the Global South and made it a stronger rival to the G7, which is dominated by Western nations.
The new members brought the group’s GDP to more than $30 trillion, or about 29% of the world’s GDP.
This is still lower than the G7’s 43% share, but the gap could narrow as BRICS countries like India keep growing faster than average and as more countries join the group in the future.
The group also boosted its share of global oil production to 43% with the inclusion of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran.
The new members may not have a large GDP impact on the group right now, but many of them have high growth potential.
BRICS aims to create a trade and financial system that is independent from the U.S. dollar, so having more natural resources is crucial.
Many of the current BRICS members have higher GDP growth rates than the G7 members, with an average of 189% growth by 2050 for the former and 50% for the latter, according to some studies.
Some of the new BRICS members, such as Ethiopia (1,170% projected GDP growth by 2050) and Egypt (635% projected GDP growth by 2050), have even higher growth prospects, which will enhance the group’s economic power.
Some forecasts suggest that by 2050, BRICS will surpass the G7 in GDP, even without the new members.
However, this is not certain, and BRICS plans to add more members anyway, which will likely make it surpass the G7’s GDP sooner or later.
