BRICS and BRICS+ · BRICS
The original Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa grouping plus the 2024 expansion (UAE, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran) — the largest non-Western multilateral economic forum and an increasingly relevant alternative to the Bretton Woods institutions.
Mandate
The acronym BRIC originated as a 2001 Goldman Sachs research term; the countries formalised it into a political grouping in 2009 (BRIC) and 2010 (BRICS after South Africa joined). 2024 expansion (BRICS+) added Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE. Saudi Arabia was invited but has not formally acceded. Argentina was invited and declined. No founding treaty, no permanent secretariat — annual leaders' summit, rotating chair, working-group tracks.
How it works
Annual leaders' summit. Finance ministers and central-bank governors meet on the margins of G20 and IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings. Working groups cover finance, payments, climate, food security, digital. Outputs are non-binding declarations but increasingly shape negotiating positions at the G20, the UN, and the WTO.
Why it matters
Three reasons BRICS matters for Africa: (1) Two African members now (South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia) — and Kenya is a longstanding observer-aligned country. (2) The New Development Bank (the BRICS-founded multilateral, see next entry) is an alternative source of infrastructure finance. (3) BRICS payments initiatives — bilateral local-currency settlement, the BRICS Pay system, mBridge cross-border CBDC pilots — are reshaping how non-dollar trade between the global South settles. For Kenyan exporters to BRICS members, all of this matters operationally.
What to watch
Annual BRICS leaders' summit declaration, finance ministers' communiqués, NDB project pipeline, mBridge and BRICS Pay technical milestones, accession announcements (Saudi Arabia, Nigeria periodically rumoured).
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