Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Argentina, Mexico, Nigeria, and Others Want to Join BRICS

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South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor says Saudia Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, Argentina, Mexico, Nigeria, and other nations want to join BRICS.

Since the start of the US proxy war in Ukraine, BRICS nations have refused to participate in sanctions against Russia and continue to distance themselves from the West.

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Challenging the World Bank model

In 2014, with $50 billion (around €46 billion) in seed money, the BRICS nations launched the New Development Bank as an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In addition, they created a liquidity mechanism called the Contingent Reserve Arrangement to support members struggling with payments.

These offers were not only attractive to the BRICS nations themselves, but also to many other developing and emerging economies that had had painful experiences with the IMF’s structural adjustment programs and austerity measures. This is why many countries said they might be interested in joining the BRICS group.

The BRICS bank is open to new members. In 2021, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Bangladesh took up shares. However, these were much lower than the respective $10 billion investments made by the bank’s founding members.

Set to expand

South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said worldwide interest in the BRICS group was “huge.” In early March, she told television interviewers that she had 12 letters from interested countries on her desk.

“Saudi Arabia is one,” she said. “United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, and Argentina,” as well as Mexico and Nigeria. “Once we’ve shaped the criteria [for lending], we will then make the decision,” she said, noting that the topic would be placed on the agenda for the upcoming August summit in South Africa.

The most recent economic developments in BRICS member states have little to do with the initial myths upon which the group was founded. Of the five members, only China has achieved sustained and extensive growth since then.

As China’s gross domestic product grew from $6 trillion in 2010 to nearly $18 trillion in 2021, the economies in Brazil, South Africa, and Russia have stagnated. India’s GDP grew from $1.7 trillion to $3.1 trillion but was outpaced by China’s growth.

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