South Africa president announces Saudi Arabia’s accession to ‎BRICS ‎

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced today, Thursday, that it had been agreed that Saudi Arabia would join the BRICS group, and this came during his address to the international meeting of the fifteenth summit, “BRICS 2023”, in Johannesburg.

Ramaphosa confirmed that BRICS membership for the new members will start on January 1, 2024, indicating that it was agreed to support trade exchanges in national currencies between BRICS countries. The UAE, Egypt, Iran, Argentina and Ethiopia were also accepted as members

The Saudi economy is one of the fastest growing in the world since 2021, and it has achieved a great recovery in recent years, and the gross domestic product will reach more than one trillion dollars in 2022, with Saudi Arabia adopting ambitious plans according to Vision 2030, which boosted government revenues and diversified sources of income, While the International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for the growth of the country’s economy during 2024 to 3.4 percent,

On the other hand, Chinese President Xi Jinping said, “The expansion of BRICS membership is a historic event, and the group seeks to achieve peace in the world.”

The leaders of the countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which make up the BRICS group, agreed to expand the group, which takes its decisions by consensus and has not included any new member since the accession of South Africa in 2010.

The volume of trade exchange between the BRICS countries amounted to about $162 billion over the past year, accounting for a quarter of the global economy and a fifth of global trade.

Recent data revealed the superiority of the BRICS group for the first time over the most advanced countries of the Group of Seven in the world, after the BRICS contribution reached 31.5% in the global economy, compared to 30.7% for the seven industrial powers.

More than 20 countries had officially requested to join the group, which in its current composition represents 40% of the Earth’s population and a quarter of the global economy.

It is noteworthy that the BRICS group is a bloc that includes Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa and India, as it was established in 2009, at a summit hosted by the Russian city of Yekaterinburg and its name was changed from “BRICS” to BRICS in 2011, after South Africa joined it. This international group aims to increase economic relations among them in local currencies, which reduces dependence on the dollar.