BRICS' role to change, study finds

The BRICS Summit set for Xiamen, Fujian province, next week will play a positive role in helping shape the global economy, especially at a time of declines in advanced economies such as the United States, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The report by the Standard Bank of Johannesburg, South Africa, said the BRICS nations have an opportunity to assume a bolder global leadership role after two years of sliding fortunes.

BRICS includes the five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The report said leaders of BRICS nations, meeting from Sept 3 to 5 at their ninth annual summit, will have their challenges in mind. "There remains clear and growing space for the BRICS countries to continue to nurture the enthusiasm and a developing-world emphasis that their formation arose to represent," said the report, titled BRICS 2017 - Poised for New Relevance.

The proportional global relevance of the BRICS countries has continued to rise. The nations' collective share of the global GDP increased from 16 percent in 2009 to 22 percent in 2016. During the past decade, the BRICS countries have accounted for nearly 50 percent of the world's GDP growth, according to the report.

India and China are the two fastest-growing large economies in the world. The two governments announced on Monday an end to their 70-day border standoff following Indian troops crossing into China's territory. On Tuesday, the Indian External Affairs Ministry confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the BRICS Summit.

According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report on February, the top seven world economies in terms of purchasing power parity by 2050 will be, in order, China, India, US, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia and Mexico.

The Standard Bank report noted that the BRICS countries are still a collectively powerful trading partner for developing economies in general and Africa in particular. It said recent declines in BRICS-Africa trade must be seen within the context of a deep drop in US-Africa trade since 2012.

The report praised the Shanghai-headquartered New Development Bank as visible proof of concrete progress from past BRICS summits. the NDB aims to provide an alternative source of financial support and infrastructure financing for the BRICS and other emerging economies.

"Rhetorical and practical retreat by key advanced economies, in particular the US, from their commitment to global multilateral agreements on, for instance, climate change, as well as a recent rise in economic nationalism and protectionism provides the BRICS countries with the opportunity to boldly assume a new and profoundly constructive global leadership role in championing these same causes," the report said.

In a speech in Phoenix, Arizona, on Aug 22, US President Donald Trump praised himself for withdrawing the US from the "disastrous Trans-Pacific Partnership" and "job-killing Paris Climate Accord". And he said the US may terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com