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Russian media outlets are reporting that new calculations made using global data show that the addition of six new member states to the BRICS alliance of nations will propel the alliance far ahead of its nearest rival, the G7, in economic terms.
Currently BRICS is composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. However, in January Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates will all be admitted as official members.
Russian news outlets RBK and TASS report that the new expanded BRICS alliance will have a combined gross domestic product (GDP) in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) of roughly $65 trillion. That will increase the bloc’s share of the Global GDP from its present 31.5% to 37%. In contrast, the share of the global GDP of the G7 group of advanced economies sits presently at about 29.9%.
On top of that, with the addition of its new members, the BRICS alliance will be responsible for roughly half of all of the world’s food production. The BRICS alliance produced 49% of the world’s wheat harvest in 2021, while the G7 only produced 19.1%.
BRICS will also dominate the production of metals used in the high tech industry. The expanded coalition will produce about 79% of the world’s total output of aluminum, compared to just 1.3% which is produced by the G7 nations. In the case of palladium, the expanded BRICS alliance will produce 77% of the world’s supply, compared with just 6.9% for the G7.
In industrial production, the expanded BRICS alliance will account for about 38.3% of the world’s industrial production, while the G7 will account for 30.5%. However the G7 will still maintain the upper hand in exports, where it will account for 28.8% compared to BRICS’ 23.4%.
Among the new BRICS member states, Saudi Arabia will be the largest economy, with a GDP in dollar terms of about $1.1 trillion.
The UAE, meanwhile, will bring its status as a major exporter, with its 2022 exports registering at almost $600 billion.
The 11 BRICS members in the newly expanded alliance will comprise a total of 36% of the land area of the world, more than doubling the figure of the G7. Meanwhile the combined population will amount to 3.6 billion people, which is 45% of the globe’s total, and a number quadrupling the figure of the G7.