2023-08-24 22:45:53
BRICS-SUMMIT-DIPLOMACY-TRADE, PREV-CORRECTION
The six new countries admitted to the BRICS
PARIS, August 24, 2023 – Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Argentina will join the bloc of emerging BRICS countries from January 2024 (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), who wants to gain influence in the world.
Overview of these six countries:
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter and the largest Arab economy.
Anxious to be less dependent on fossil fuels, this ultra-conservative country has embarked on a vast program of economic and societal reforms in recent years.
The kingdom recorded an annual GDP growth of 8.5% in 2022. The population is currently estimated at 32.2 million, with the majority under the age of 30.
IRAN
Iran, whose economy is affected by severe international sanctions, has the world’s second largest gas reserves, after Russia, and the fourth proven oil reserves.
The sanctions of the United States (after the end of the nuclear agreement in 2018), isolated this country of 88 million inhabitants from the international financial system. The persistent collapse of the national currency feeds galloping inflation.
Since the beginning of the year, Iran has been very active on the diplomatic scene with the ambition of reducing its isolation by establishing closer ties with China and Russia, and by reconciling with its Arab neighbours.
EGYPT
Egypt, where the Arab League sits, is a major player on the Arab diplomatic scene.
The economy of the country, one of the world’s top grain importers, was hit hard after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 sent wheat prices skyrocketing.
Inflation reached 36.8% in June, an absolute record in this country of 105 million inhabitants.
Heavily indebted, Egypt has had to rely in recent years on bailouts from Gulf countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
The federation of seven emirates, heavyweight of OPEC, has been diversifying its economy for decades and is less and less dependent on hydrocarbons, which now represent only 30% of the GDP of this country of some 10 million inhabitants.
The first Arab country to have a nuclear power plant, the Emirates have built two of the largest solar parks in the world in Abu Dhabi, the capital, and Dubai, the financial, real estate and tourist hub of the region.
Allies of Saudi Arabia and the United States, maintaining good relations with Russia or China, the Emirates were the first Gulf country to normalize their relations with Israel in 2020.
ETHIOPIA
Second most populous country in Africa with 123 million inhabitants, Ethiopia was during the 2010 decade one of the most dynamic economies in the world.
But its growth has been halted by the Covid-19 pandemic, climatic calamities, the conflict in the Tigray region (north) and the war in Ukraine. And the country remains among the least developed in the world according to the UNDP Human Development Index.
Traditionally non-aligned, Ethiopia maintains close ties with Russia and China (its main trading partner), but also with the United States.
ARGENTINE
Argentina, Latin America’s third-largest economy, has been grappling with endemic inflation, which has been in double digits for more than twelve years, currently at 115% year-on-year.
Since the beginning of the year, the increase in the cumulative cost of living has reached 32% and despite social aid, some 40% of the 46 million Argentines live in poverty. In mid-August, the Argentinian peso was devalued by around 20%.
Argentina also finds itself in difficulty to repay a debt of 44 billion dollars to the IMF. His candidacy was supported by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, criticizing the “asphyxiating” loans from international donors.
With AFP
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