Brazil prepares to host between July 6 and 7 the 17th BRICS Leaders Summit, in an event scheduled for the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) in Rio de Janeiro. But what is this acronym, often confused with an economic block? THE Infomoney separated some information about this group of countries.
What do Brics?
BRICS is an acronym used since the early 2000s to refer to the group of emerging countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, today a grouping of nations that according to the IMF represent about 40% of global GDP – based on the participation of purchasing power parity. In the first summit, held in 2009 in Ecaterimburgo, Russia, only the first four partners (BRIC) were considered as members. South Africa joined in 2011 and today there are 11 countries within the initiative.
Who created the term BRICS?
The popularization of the term, which was being used in the academy in globalization studies, is attributed to British economist Jim O’Neill, who used the acronym in a famous investment bank Paper Goldman Sachs in 2001. In the document, he said he saw in the four original countries of economic growth above the average of G7 nations in the decade ahead. From the document, the statement was that “a healthier environment for the BRICS seems likely to remain and, as a result, their participation in world GDP is expected to increase.”
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How did the group gathered?
With the term gaining importance in international organizational analysis, investment banks and the media projections, the approach between countries narrowed over the first decade of the 21st century, to the point that leaders see the possibility of creating a political platform that can change in global governance. As I said in a recent interview with Infomoney which presided over the NDB (the BRICS Bank), was an attempt to define the concept of “inside, instead of the concept being defined from the outside”. Despite several structural differences, he joined around what he had in common: large territory, large population and important regional influence.
How was the political evolution of the group?
As Ipea recalled in a recent document, the group gained political substance after the 2008 global financial crisis, when these emerging economies began to formally articulate their demands by greater representation in the global decision -making forums. From the beginning, BRICS countries have expressed a common demand for the reform of the international economic order, particularly Bretton Woods multilateral institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. “These organizations, widely perceived as dominated by the interests of developed countries, have come to be seen as misaligned with the balance of economic power in the 21st century,” said Ipea.
The group of countries began to carry out dialogues and joint initiatives in issues such as technological innovation, climate change, food and energy safety, infrastructure development, public health, safety, sports, education and cultural exchange. This thematic expansion was accompanied by the institutionalization of annual domes.
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How did the BRICS countries expand?
The admission of South Africa in 2011 was a species of first step to a broader and more inclusive composition, bringing an African perspective to the group and reinforcing its continental range, as pointed out in Ipea. After Durban’s dome in 2023, an expansion strategy was defined. Between 2024 and 2025 were added to the Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and United Arab as member countries. Argentina was also initially included, but political change in the country motivated its departure – President Javier Milei retired even before the entrance formalization. Under the presidency of Brazil, the agenda for 2025 is guided by the motto “strengthening the cooperation of the global south for a more inclusive and sustainable governance.”
One problem with this expansion, as Marcos Troyjo commented to Infoomoney, is that the political weight of the original partners, as is the case of Brazil, diluted with the adhesions. “At Durban’s summit, Brazil entered the room with 20% of political capital. He left the room, when the meeting ends, less than 10%.”
What are the biggest criticisms to the group?
After several years defending greater intrablocal cooperation and “a new international financial architecture that could give greater voice and representativeness to developing countries” – a phrase used in the Ecaterimburg Summit statement in 2009 – the BRICS group was gradually turning to a opposition to the most developed countries and western leadership. Already in 2015, it was spoken of the expansion of the use of national currencies in transactions between the BRICS countries, and the authorities began to discuss the viability of a broader use of national currencies in mutual trade. Theses on the end of the dollar pattern were born of this orientation. At the Kazan summit in Russia in 2024, the final document highlighted the “concern for the deleterious effects of unilateral unilateral measures on the economy and international trade”, in a veiled allusion to the sanctions that the Vladimir Putin regime has been suffering since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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