BRICS has expanded to an 11-member bloc that now represents roughly 40% of global GDP and 49.5% of the world’s population, a shift that has increased its influence across trade, energy and finance while prompting efforts to turn size into practical economic cooperation. The grouping-Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia-also accounts for about 26% of global trade, according to figures cited by India during its 2026 chairship.
The bloc’s significance rests on composition as much as scale. It contains the world’s two most populous nations and major manufacturing and consumption centres in China and India; leading energy exporters such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the UAE; and large agricultural and commodity producers including Brazil and Russia. BRICS members hold outsized shares in critical resources and energy that give the forum strategic leverage even without formal economic union.
BRICS began as the “Bric” concept coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001. The four founding countries moved to formal political coordination in 2006 and held the first leaders’ summit in 2009; South Africa joined in 2011 to form BRICS. The bloc’s largest expansion came in 2024 when Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE joined, and Indonesia became the 11th full member in January 2025. India is chairing the group in 2026.
The economic picture behind the headline 40% is mixed. The IMF’s World Economic Outlook (July 2026) projects global growth at 3.3% in 2026 and ranks India among the fastest-growing major economies; it forecasts China at 4.6%, Indonesia 5.0%, Brazil 2.4%, Russia 1.1% and South Africa 1.1%. These differences underscore that population and GDP share do not equal uniform purchasing power: wealthy Gulf states contrast sharply with lower per-capita incomes in India, Egypt and Ethiopia.
Trade is a priority. India’s Commerce Ministry reported intra-BRICS merchandise trade of $1.17 trillion in 2024, up from $84 billion in 2003, but still modest relative to the bloc’s economic weight. At the 16th BRICS Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Jaipur in August 2026, ministers progressed a Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership 2030 and endorsed a Global Value Chains Action Plan for 2026–30 to deepen services, digital trade, investment and supply‑chain cooperation.
Financial cooperation has drawn attention for talk of de‑dollarisation, but members are not negotiating a common currency. Work focuses on greater use of national currencies, interoperable payment systems and cross‑border payment initiatives-ideas advanced in the 2024 Kazan and 2025 Rio declarations and through BRICS payment task forces. Analysts argue that alternative payment rails are more feasible than a single reserve currency given varied economic and geopolitical interests.
Energy and minerals add strategic weight: BRICS members account for large shares of global oil, gas, coal and rare‑earth reserves, though processing capacity and global value chains remain decisive. The bloc is also building institutions-the New Development Bank and a $100 billion Contingent Reserve Arrangement-to finance projects and provide liquidity. Under India’s 2026 chairship, digital public infrastructure, AI standards and MSME trade finance are front‑and‑centre.
BRICS today is powerful in scale but not a unified economic bloc: it has no single market, customs union or currency, and its members’ divergent interests-most notably between China and India-limit rapid integration. The transformation from a 23.3% share of global GDP (PPP) for the original four in 2000 to an 11‑member grouping covering about 40% today is significant; the next test will be whether members can convert that combined weight into deeper trade, investment and financial connectivity.
Original Source: https://www.firstpost.com/business/brics-economy-power-global-gdp-2026-14042326.html
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Publish Date: 2026-09-01 12:56:00
