BRICS Dictionary Definitions

BRICS is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as the five fastest growing emerging economies since the original BRIC term was coined in 2003 by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs.

Jim O’Neill speculates that the countries that make up BRICS will be the suppliers that will dominate the world economy in 2050 in terms of goods and services on the one hand, and raw materials, on the other.

BRICS is a generic marketing term to refer to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, incorporated later in 2011, as the five emerging economies that will play an important role in the global economy in the medium term future. .

BRICS offers thanks to its low costs of labor, production and potential raw materials to form a strategically strong economic block and a source of opportunities for foreign investors of international expansion.

It is important to clarify that BRICS is not a formal block as they are, for example, Mercosur or the European Union (EU).

Critics of BRICS

Many economists criticize the BRICS theory by establishing among their arguments the idea that China‘s growth alone represents 70% of the GDP of the five countries, therefore it should be considered in a completely separate group.

The argument that the abundance of natural resources that these countries, especially Brazil and South Africa, already have low cost is considered a vulnerability rather than a strength for BRICS critics, since they argue that raw materials come from non-renewable sources that will run out over time.

Another criticism comes about the violation of human rights that both China and Russia have incurred. Goldman Sachs defends the term by stating that it is an acronym only and only to determine its influence in the market for its rapid economic growth.

According to abbreviationfinder.org, BRICS has another meanings – Basic Research in Computer Science.