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BRICS expansion to rival G7, China's property crisis deepens, India racks up impressive growth, Israel-Saudi peace inches closer, slow gains for Ukraine, and Trump trial dates announced.
BRICS expansion
Meeting at a summit in South Africa, leaders of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) agreed to expand their grouping to include Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The expansion was pushed by China, which is keen to see the BRICS emerge as a ‘global south’ grouping and a counterweight to the G7 and G20 groupings, with China at the helm. India was reportedly more hesitant about the expansion. The expanded grouping will account for around 37% of global GDP, up from its current 32%.
South Africa was the last country to join the grouping, in 2010. The term BRICs (which originally just referred to Brazil, Russia, India and China) was first used in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill.
Though there was talk of developing a BRICS common currency before the summit (a completely impractical idea pushed by Brazil), leaders instead agreed to look at options to lessen their reliance on US dollars in settling trade.
Though a diplomatic win for China, helping cement its position as notional leader of the developing world, it is unlikely the expanded BRICS will deliver much more than regular summits. The grouping is too diverse and varied in their views on key world issues to be able to agree on much.
But it will lessen the primacy of the G20, which is struggling to achieve much due to US-China tensions and strong differences in view over Russia’s war against Ukraine. President Xi of China is likely to skip this year’s G20 summit in India. Putin is also likely to be a no-show. Of the expanded BRICS membership, 7 of the 11 are also G20 members.
Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin was unable to attend the summit in person because he is subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, to which South Africa is a party.
(Credit: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
China’s property crisis deepens
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