BRIC

Brazil, Russia, India, and China
Map of BRIC countries BRIC Brazil President (head of state and government): Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Russia President (head of state): Dmitry Medvedev Prime Minister (head of government): Vladimir Putin India President (head of state): Pratibha Patil Prime Minister (head of government): Manmohan Singh China President (head of state): Hu Jintao Premier (head of government): Wen Jiabao

In economics, BRIC (typically rendered as "the BRICs" or "the BRIC countries") is an acronym that refers to the fast-growing developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The acronym was first coined and prominently used by Goldman Sachs in 2001. Goldman Sachs argued that, since they are developing rapidly, by 2050 the combined economies of the BRICs could eclipse the combined economies of the current richest countries of the world. The four countries, combined, currently account for more than a quarter of the world's land area and more than 40% of the world's population.

Goldman Sachs did not argue that the BRICs would organize themselves into an economic bloc, or a formal trading association, as the European Union has done. However, there are strong indications that the "four BRIC countries have been seeking to form a 'political club' or 'alliance'", and thereby converting "their growing economic power into greater geopolitical clout". On June 16, 2009, the leaders of the BRIC countries held their first summit in Yekaterinburg, and issued a declaration calling for the establishment of a multipolar world order.

The BRIC thesis

São Paulo, Brazil, South America.

Goldman Sachs argues that the economic potential of Brazil, Russia, India, and China is such that they could become among the four most dominant economies by the year 2050. The thesis was proposed by Jim O'Neill, global economist at Goldman Sachs. These countries encompass over 25% of the world's land coverage and 40% of the world's population and hold a combined GDP (PPP) of 15.435 trillion dollars. On almost every scale, they would be the largest entity on the global stage. These four countries are among the biggest and fastest growing emerging markets.

However, it is not the intent of Goldman Sachs to argue that these four countries are a political alliance (such as the European Union) or any formal trading association, like ASEAN. Nevertheless, they have taken steps to increase their political cooperation, mainly as a way of influencing the United States position on major trade accords, or, through the implicit threat of political cooperation, as a way of extracting political concessions from the United States, such as the proposed nuclear cooperation with India.

(2003) Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050

Moscow, Russia.

The BRIC thesis (defended in the paper Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050) recognizes that Brazil, Russia, India and China have changed their political systems to embrace global capitalism. Goldman Sachs predicts China and India, respectively, to be the dominant global suppliers of manufactured goods and services while Brazil and Russia would become similarly dominant as suppliers of raw materials. Cooperation is thus hypothesized to be a logical next step among the BRICs because Brazil and Russia together form the logical commodity suppliers to India and China. Thus, the BRICs have the potential to form a powerful economic bloc to the exclusion of the modern-day states currently of "Group of Eight" status. Brazil is dominant in soy and iron ore while Russia has enormous supplies of oil and natural gas. Goldman Sachs' thesis thus documents how commodities, work, technology, and companies have diffused outward from the United States across the world.

Following the end of the Cold War or even before, the governments comprising BRIC all initiated economic or political reforms to allow their countries to enter the world economy. In order to compete, these countries have simultaneously stressed education, foreign investment, domestic consumption, and domestic entrepreneurship. According to the study, India has the potential to grow the fastest among the four BRIC countries over the next 30 to 50 years. A major reason for this is that the decline in working age population will happen later for India and Brazil than for Russia and China.

(2004) Follow-up report

Mumbai, India.

The Goldman Sachs global economics team released a follow-up report to its initial BRIC study in 2004. The report states that in BRIC nations, the number of people with an annual income over a threshold of $3,000, will double in number within three years and reach 800 million people within a decade. This predicts a massive rise in the size of the middle class in these nations. In 2025, it is calculated that the number of people in BRIC nations earning over $15,000 may reach over 200 million. This indicates that a huge pickup in demand will not be restricted to basic goods but impact higher-priced goods as well. According to the report, first China and then a decade later India will begin to dominate the world economy.

Yet despite the balance of growth, swinging so decisively towards the BRIC economies, the average wealth level of individuals in the more advanced economies will continue to far outstrip the BRIC economy average. Goldman Sachs estimates that by 2025 the income per capita in the six most populous EU countries will exceed $35,000, whereas only about 500 million people in the BRIC economies will have similar income levels.

The report also highlights India's great inefficiency in energy use and mentions the dramatic under-representation of these economies in the global capital markets. The report also emphasizes the enormous populations that exist within the BRIC nations, which makes it relatively easy for their aggregate wealth to eclipse the G6, while per-capita income levels remain far below the norm of today's industrialized countries. This phenomenon, too, will affect world markets as multinational corporations will attempt to take advantage of the enormous potential markets in the BRICs by producing, for example, far cheaper automobiles and other manufactured goods affordable to the consumers within the BRICs in lieu of the luxury models that currently bring the most income to automobile manufacturers. India and China have already started making their presence felt in the service and manufacturing sector respectively in the global arena. Developed economies of the world have already taken serious note of this fact.

A Goldman Sachs paper published later in December 2005 explained why Mexico and South Korea weren't included in the original BRICs. According to the paper, among the other countries they looked at, only Mexico and South Korea have the potential to rival the BRICs, but they are economies that they decided to exclude initially because they looked at them as already more developed.

(2007) Second Follow-up report

Shanghai, China.

This report compiled by lead authors Tushar Poddar and Eva Yi gives insight into "India's Rising Growth Potential". It reveals updated projection figures attributed to the rising growth trends in India over the last four years. Goldman Sachs assert that "India's influence on the world economy will be bigger and quicker than implied in our previously published BRICs research". They noted significant areas of research and development, and expansion that is happening in the country, which will lead to the prosperity of the growing middle-class.

"India has 10 of the 30 fastest-growing urban areas in the world and, based on current trends, we estimate a massive 700 million people will move to cities by 2050. This will have significant implications for demand for urban infrastructure, real estate, and services."

In the revised 2007 figures, based on increased and sustaining growth, more inflows into foreign direct investment, Goldman Sachs predicts that "from 2007 to 2020, India's GDP per capita in US$ terms will quadruple", and that the Indian economy will surpass the United States (in US$) by 2050. It states that the four nations as a group will overtake the G7 in 2032.

The BRIC numbers

The Economist publishes an annual table of social and economic national statistics in its Pocket World in Figures. Extrapolating the global rankings from their 2008 Edition for the BRIC countries and economies in relation to various categories provides an interesting touchstone in relation to the economic underpinnings of the BRIC thesis. It also illustrates how, despite their divergent economic bases, the economic indicators are remarkably similar in global rankings between the different economies. It also suggests that, while economic arguments can be made for linking Mexico into the BRIC thesis, the case for including South Africa looks considerably weaker. A Goldman Sachs paper published later in December 2005 explained why Mexico wasn't included in the original BRICs. According to the paper, among the other countries they looked at, only Mexico and perhaps Korea have the potential to rival the BRICs, but they are economies that they decided to exclude initially because they looked at them as already more developed. According to that paper, Mexico becomes the fifth-largest economy by 2050, ahead of Russia.

Global giants

Painting BRIC by numbers

Categories	Brazil	Russia	India	China
Area	5th	1st	7th	3rd / 4th (disputed)
Population	5th	9th	2nd	1st
GDP (nominal)	10th	8th	12th	3rd
GDP (PPP)	9th	6th	4th	2nd
Exports	21st	11th	23rd	2nd
Imports	27th	17th	16th	3rd
Current account balance	47th	5th	169th	1st
Received FDI	16th	12th	29th	5th
Foreign exchange reserves	7th	3rd	4th	1st
External debt	24th	20th	27th	19th
Public debt	47th	117th	29th	98th
Electricity consumption	10th	3rd	7th	2nd
Number of mobile phones	5th	4th	2nd	1st
Number of internet users	5th	11th	4th	1st

BRIC in future

File:2050economics.png

Estimatives to 2050 largest nominal GDP.

The top three charts list the top 22 countries by nominal GDP for the years 2008, 2025 and 2050 respectively. The bottom two charts list these 22 countries by nominal GDP per capita (the rankings for these bottom two charts do not reflect the GDP per capita for all the world's countries). BRIC countries are highlighted and labeled in bold.

Gross Domestic Product (nominal) [2008]

Rank	Country	GDP (in US$ millions)
1	United States	14,264,600
2	Japan	4,923,761
3	China	4,401,614
4	Germany	3,667,513
5	France	2,865,737
6	United Kingdom	2,674,085
7	Italy	2,313,893
8	Russia	1,676,586
9	Spain	1,611,767
10	Brazil	1,572,839
11	Canada	1,510,957
12	India	1,209,686
13	Mexico	1,088,128
14	Australia	1,010,699
15	South Korea	947,010
16	Netherlands	868,940
17	Turkey	729,443
18	Poland	525,735
19	Indonesia	511,765
20	Belgium	506,392
21	Switzerland	492,595
22	Sweden	484,550

Gross Domestic Product (nominal) [2025]

Rank	Country	GPD (in US$ millions)
1	United States	20,140,000
2	China	18,610,000
3	Japan	5,220,000
4	India	4,960,000
5	Germany	4,800,000
6	Russia	4,620,000
7	United Kingdom	3,940,000
8	France	3,530,000
9	Brazil	3,220,000
10	Italy	3,120,000
11	Mexico	2,670,000
12	South Korea	2,370,000
13	Canada	2,100,000
14	Indonesia	1,720,000
15	Turkey	1,520,000
16	Iran	1,450,00
17	Vietnam	1,340,000
18	Nigeria	1,120,000
19	Philippines	960,000
20	Pakistan	860,000
21	Egypt	720,000
22	Bangladesh	689,000

Gross Domestic Product (nominal) [2050]

Rank	Country	GDP (in US$ millions)
1	China	70,710,000
2	United States	38,520,000
3	India	38,227,000
4	Brazil	11,366,000
5	Mexico	9,343,000
6	Russia	8,564,000
7	Indonesia	7,010,000
8	Japan	6,675,000
9	United Kingdom	5,178,000
10	Germany	5,028,000
11	Nigeria	4,640,000
12	France	4,592,000
13	South Korea	4,083,000
14	Turkey	3,948,000
15	Vietnam	3,607,000
16	Canada	3,164,000
17	Philippines	3,010,000
18	Italy	2,950,000
19	Iran	2,663,000
20	Egypt	2,602,000
21	Pakistan	2,085,000
22	Bangladesh	1,466,000

Gross Domestic Product (nominal) per capita [2008]

Rank	Country	GDP per capita (in USD)
1	United States	46,859.058
2	France	46,015.921
3	Canada	45,428.225
4	Germany	44,660.407
5	United Kingdom	43,785.343
6	Italy	38,996.165
7	Japan	38,559.112
8	South Korea	19,504.545
9	Russia	11,806.947
10	Turkey	10,471.686
11	Mexico	10,234.826
12	Brazil	8,197.433
13	Iran	4,731.961
14	China	3,315.323
15	Indonesia	2,246.27
16	Egypt	2,160.891
17	Philippines	1,865.951
18	Nigeria	1,450.533
19	Pakistan	1,044.485
20	Vietnam	1,040.35
21	India	1,016.158
22	Bangladesh	506.054

Gross Domestic Product (nominal) per capita [2025]

Rank	Country	GDP per capita (in USD)
1	United States	57,600
2	United Kingdom	51,410
3	Canada	49,710
4	France	49,692
5	Japan	46,930
6	Germany	42,670
7	Italy	40,789
8	South Korea	38,710
9	Russia	35,450
10	Mexico	25,670
11	Brazil	13,310
12	China	11,210
13	Turkey	10,810
14	Iran	9,310
15	Vietnam	7,610
16	Indonesia	6,610
17	Philippines	4,410
18	Egypt	4,220
19	India	3,514
20	Nigeria	2,540
21	Pakistan	2,220
22	Bangladesh	1,610

Gross Domestic Product (nominal) per capita [2050]

Rank	Country	GDP per capita (in USD)
1	United States	91,683
2	South Korea	90,294
3	United Kingdom	80,234
4	Russia	78,576
5	Canada	76,002
6	France	75,253
7	Germany	68,253
8	Japan	66,846
9	Mexico	63,149
10	Italy	58,545
11	Brazil	49,759
12	China	49,650
13	Turkey	45,595
14	Vietnam	33,472
15	Iran	32,676
16	Indonesia	22,395
17	India	20,836
18	Egypt	20,500
19	Philippines	20,388
20	Nigeria	13,014
21	Pakistan	7,066
22	Bangladesh	5,235

BRIC Summit

Main article: 1st BRIC summit

Leaders at the 1st BRIC summit. From left are: President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil; President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia; President Hu Jintao of China, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India.

The BRIC countries met for their first official summit on 16 June 2009, in Yekaterinburg, Russia, with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Dmitry Medvedev, Manmohan Singh, and Hu Jintao, the respective leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, all attending. The core focus of the summit was related to improving the current global economic situation and discussing how the four countries can better work together in the future, as well as a more general push to reform financial institutions. There was also discussion surrounding how developing nations, such as those members of BRIC, could be better involved in global affairs in the future. In the aftermath of the summit the BRIC nations suggested that there was a need for a new global reserve currency that is 'diversified, stable and predictable'. The statement that was released stopped short of making a direct attack on the perceived 'dominance' of the US dollar, something which the Russians have been critical of; however, it still led to a fall in the value of the dollar against other major currencies.

The foreign ministers of the BRIC countries had met previously on May 16, 2008 also in Yekaterinburg.

One week prior to the summit, Brazil offered $10 billion to the International Monetary Fund. It was the first time that the country had ever made such a loan. Brazil had previously received loans from the IMF and this announcement was treated as a significant demonstration of how Brazil's economic position had changed. China also announced plans to invest a total of $50 billion and Russia planned to invest $10 billion.

	Date	Host country	Host leader	Location held	Website	Notes
1st	June 16, 2009	Russia	Dmitry Medvedev	Yekaterinburg
2nd	2010	Brazil	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

The BRIC term

The BRIC leaders in 2008

Various sources (see external links below) refer to a purported "original" BRIC agreement that predates the Goldman Sachs thesis. Some of these sources claim that President Vladimir Putin of Russia was the driving force behind this original cooperative coalition of developing BRIC countries. However, thus far, no text has been made public of any formal agreement to which all four BRIC states are signatories. This does not mean, however, that they have not reached a multitude of bilateral or even trilateral agreements. Evidence of agreements of this type are abundant and are available on the foreign ministry websites of each of the four countries. Trilateral agreements and frameworks made among the BRICs include the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (member states include Russia and China, associate members include India) and the IBSA Trilateral Forum, which unites Brazil, India, and South Africa in annual dialogues. Also important to note is the G-20 coalition of developing states which includes all the BRICs.

Also, because of the popularity of the Goldman Sachs thesis "BRIC", this term has sometimes been extended whereby "BRICK" (K for South Korea), "BRIMC" (M for Mexico), "BRICA" (GCC Arab countries – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates) and "BRICET" (including Eastern Europe and Turkey) have become more generic marketing terms to refer to these emerging markets.

Marketing

The Bombay Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in Asia.

The BRIC term is also used by companies who refer to the four named countries as key to their emerging markets strategies. By comparison the reduced acronym IC would not be attractive, although the term "Chindia" is often used. The BRIC's study specifically focuses on large countries, not necessarily the wealthiest or the most productive and was never intended to be an investment thesis. If investors read the Goldman's research carefully, and agreed with the conclusions, then they would gain exposure to Asian debt and equity markets rather than to Latin America. According to estimates provided by the USDA, the wealthiest regions outside of the G6 in 2015 will be Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore. Combined with China and India, these five economies are likely to be the world's five most influential economies outside of the G6.

On the other hand, when the "R" in BRIC is extended beyond Russia and is used as a loose term to include all of Eastern Europe as well, then the BRIC story becomes more compelling. At issue are the multiple serious problems which confront Russia (declining population, potentially unstable government, environmental degradation, critical lack of modern infrastructure, etc), and the comparatively much lower growth rate seen in Brazil. However, Brazil's lower growth rate obscures the fact that the country is wealthier than China or India on a per-capita basis, has a more developed and global integrated financial system and has an economy potentially more diverse than the other BRICs due to its raw material and manufacturing potential. Many other Eastern European countries, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and several others were able to continually sustain high economic growth rates and do not experience some of the problems that Russia experiences or experience them to a lesser extent. In terms of GDP per capita in 2007, Brazil ranks 64th, Russia 54th, China 105th and India 131st. By comparison South Korea currently ranks 28th, Singapore 21st, and Hong Kong 27th.

Brazil's stock market, the Bovespa, has gone from approximately 9,000 in September 2002 to over 70,000 in May 2008. Government policies have favored investment (lowering interest rates), retiring foreign debt and expanding growth, and a reformulation of the tax system is being voted in the congress. The British author and researcher Mark Kobayashi-Hillary is editing a new book titled 'Building a Future with BRICs' for European publisher Springer Verlag that examines the growth of the BRICs region and its effect on global sourcing. Contributors to the book include Nandan Nilekani, and Shiv Nadar, with publication scheduled for October 2007.

Criticism

The BM&F Bovespa, São Paulos Stock Exchange is the fifth largest in the world.

A criticism is that the BRIC projections are based on the assumptions that resources are limitless and endlessly available when needed. In reality, many important resources currently necessary to sustain economic growth, such as oil, natural gas, coal, other fossil fuels, and uranium might soon experience a peak in production before enough renewable energy can be developed and commercialized, which might result in slower economic growth than anticipated, thus throwing off the projections and their dates. The economic emergence of the BRICs will have unpredictable consequences for the global environment. Indeed, proponents of a set carrying capacity for the Earth may argue that, given current technology, there is a finite limit to how much the BRICs can develop before exceeding the ability of the global economy to supply.

Academics and experts have suggested that China is in a league of its own compared to the other BRIC countries. David Rothkopf commented, "Without China, the BRICs are just the BRI, a bland, soft cheese that is primarily known for the whine that goes with it. China is the muscle of the group and the Chinese know it. They have effective veto power over any BRIC initiatives because without them, who cares really? They are the one with the big reserves. They are the biggest potential market. They are the U.S. partner in the G2 (imagine the coverage a G2 meeting gets vs. a G8 meeting) and the E2 (no climate deal without them) and so on." Deutsche Bank Research said in a report that "economically, financially and politically, China overshadows and will continue to overshadow the other BRICs." It added that China's economy is larger than that of the three other BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia and India) combined. Moreover, China's exports and its official forex reserve holdings are more than twice as large as those of the other BRICs combined.

Another criticism is the understatement of GDP growth in China over the next 45 years; which predicts growth falling far below normal development. This contradicts the rapid economic growth that has already taken place in the country and the experience of countries like South Korea catching up with western GDP per capita, which China has been growing faster than in a similar period of development. There are many uncertainties and assumptions in the BRIC thesis that could mean that any or all of these four countries will not live up to their promise. The preeminence of China and India as major manufacturing countries with unrealised potential has been widely recognised, but some commentators state that China's and Russia's disregard for human rights and democracy could be a problem in the future, as is the possibility of conflict over Taiwan in the case of China. Likewise, the population of Russia is steadily declining and aging, and Brazil's and China's populations will begin to decline in several decades, and with their demographic windows closing in several decades as well. This may have implications for those countries' future, for there might be a decrease in the overall labor force and a negative change in the proportion of workers to retirees.

Brazil's economic potential has been anticipated for decades, but it had until recently consistently failed to achieve investor expectations. Only in recent years has the country established a framework of political, economic, and social policies that allowed it to resume consistent growth. The result has been solid and paced economic development that rival its early 70's "miracle years", as reflected in its expanding capital markets, lowest unemployment rates in decades, and consistent international trade surpluses - that led to the accumulation of reserves and liquidation of foreign debt (earning the country a coveted investment grade by the S&P and Fitch Ratings in 2008). How long such positive factors will stay in place remains to be seen.

Finally, India's relations with one of its neighbors, Pakistan, have always been frosty. In 1998, there was a nuclear standoff between Pakistan and India. Border conflicts with Pakistan, mostly over the longheld dispute over Kashmir, has further aggravated any economic ties. The BRIC countries have enormous populations of extremely impoverished people. This impedes progress by limiting government finances, increasing social unrest, and limiting potential domestic economic demand. Factors such as international conflict, civil unrest, unwise political policy, outbreaks of disease and terrorism are all factors that are difficult to predict and that could have an effect on the destiny of any country.

Other critics suggest that BRIC is nothing more than a neat acronym for the four largest emerging market economies, but in economic and political terms nothing else (apart from the fact that they are all big emerging markets) links the four. Two are manufacturing based economies and big importers (China and India), but two are huge exporters of natural resources (Brazil and Russia). Two have growing populations (Brazil and India), and two have shrinking populations (China and Russia). The Economist, in its special report on Brazil, expressed the following view: "In some ways Brazil is the steadiest of the BRICs. Unlike China and Russia it is a full-blooded democracy; unlike India it has no serious disputes with its neighbors. It is the only BRIC without a nuclear bomb." The Heritage Foundation's "Economic Freedom Index", which measures factors such as protection of property rights and free trade ranks Brazil ("moderately free") above the other BRICs ("mostly unfree").

In a not-so-subtle dig critical of the term as nothing more than a shorthand for emerging markets generally, critics have suggested a correlating term, CEMENT (Countries in Emerging Markets Excluded by New Terminology). Whilst they accept there has been spectacular growth of the BRIC economies, these gains have largely been the result of the strength of emerging markets generally, and that strength comes through having BRICs and CEMENT.

BRIMC, BRICK and BRIIC

Mexico, South Korea and Indonesia are currently the world's 13th, 14th and 19th largest economies in terms of nominal GDP, just slightly behind the BRIC and G7 economies. Mexico and South Korea are both experiencing GDP growth of 5% every year, a figure comparable to Brazil from the original BRICs while Indonesia, even in the face of global economic meltdown, still managed to post 4.4% GDP growth for the first quarter of 2009. Jim O'Neill, expert from the same bank and creator of the economic thesis, stated that in 2001 when the paper was created, it did not consider Mexico, but today it has been included because the country is experiencing the same factors that the other countries first included present. While South Korea was not originally included in the BRICs, recent solid economic growth led to Goldman Sachs proposing to add Mexico and South Korea to the BRICs, changing the acronym to BRIMCK, with Jim O'Neill pointing out that Korea "is better placed than most others to realize its potential due to its growth-supportive fundamentals.

A Goldman Sachs paper published later in December 2005 explained why Mexico and South Korea weren't included in the original BRICs. According to the paper, among the other countries they looked at, only Mexico and South Korea have the potential to rival the BRICs, but they are economies that they decided to exclude initially because they looked at them as already more developed. However, due to the popularity of the Goldman Sachs thesis, "BRIMC", "BRICK" and "BRIMCK" are becoming more generic marketing terms to refer to these six countries.

In their paper "BRICs and Beyond", Goldman Sachs stated that "Mexico, the four BRIC countries and South Korea should not be really thought of as emerging markets in the classical sense", adding that they are a "critical part of the modern globalised economy" and "just as central to its functioning as the current G7".

The term is primarily used in the economic and financial spheres as well as in academia. Its usage has grown specially in the investment sector, where it is used to refer to the bonds emitted by these emerging markets governments.

Mexico

It is primarily the same as the BRICs, with Goldman Sachs argues that the economic potential of Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico and China is such that they may become (with the USA) the six most dominant economies by the year 2050. The thesis was proposed by Jim O'Neill, global economist at Goldman Sachs. These countries are forecast to encompass over forty percent of the world's population and hold a combined GDP (PPP) of 14.951 trillion dollars. On almost every scale, they would be the largest entity on the global stage. However, it is important to note that it is not the intent of Goldman Sachs to argue that these five countries are a political alliance (such as the European Union) or any formal trading association, like ASEAN. Nevertheless, they have taken steps to increase their political cooperation, mainly as a way of influencing the United States position on major trade accords, or, through the implicit threat of political cooperation, as a way of extracting political concessions from the United States, such as the proposed nuclear cooperation with India. Due to Mexico's rapidly advancing infrastructure, increasing middle class and rapidly declining poverty rates it is expected to have a higher GDP per capita than all but three European countries by 2050, this new found local wealth will also contribute to the nations economy by creating a large domestic consumer market which in turn creates more jobs. The main reason that Mexico was not initially included into the BRIC thesis was because it was already considered a major economy and a significant global contributor due mainly to its high oil output and manufacturing industries.

South Korea

Despite being a developed country, South Korea has been growing at a speed comparable to Brazil and Mexico. More importantly, it has a significantly higher Growth Environment Score (Goldman Sachs' way of measuring the long-term sustainability of growth) than all of the BRICs or N-11s. Experts such as William Pesek Jr. from Bloomberg argue that Korea is "Another 'BRIC' in Global Wall", suggesting that it stands out from the Next Eleven economies. A reunited Korea is likely to happen before 2050, which would raise the country's population to over 75 million, larger than the UK and France from the G7. Cheap, skilled labor from the North combined with advanced technology and infrastructure in the South, as well as Korea's strategic location connecting three economic powers, is likely going to create an economy larger than the bulk of the G7. Nonetheless, without reunification, South Korea will overtake Canada by 2025 and Italy by 2035 according to their paper "The N-11: More Than an Acronym". Economists from other investment firms argue that Korea will have a GDP per capita of over $90,000 by 2050, virtually identical to the United States and the second highest among the G7, BRIC and N-11 economies, suggesting that wealth is more important than size for bond investors, stating that Korea's credit rating will be rated AAA sooner than 2050.

Indonesia

According to a Bloomberg article:

"Indonesia's economic growth may accelerate to 7 percent starting in 2011, providing a case for its inclusion in the so-called BRIC economies along with Brazil, Russia, India and China, Morgan Stanley said. Political stability and buoyant domestic demand will help boost expansion in the $433 billion economy, Morgan Stanley said in a report dated June 12 that compares Indonesia with India. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to win the July 8 elections, polls show. 'What this means for the investor community is that they need to look at this asset class more seriously,' Chetan Ahya, a Singapore-based economist at Morgan Stanley, said in an interview today. Political stability, improved government finances and 'a natural advantage from demography and commodity resources are likely to unleash Indonesia's growth potential,' he said."

BRIC + Mexico + South Korea + Indonesia

Painting BRIC by numbers

Categories	Brazil	Russia	India	China	Mexico	South Korea	Indonesia
Area	5th	1st	7th	3rd / 4th (disputed)	15th	108th	16th
Population	5th	9th	2nd	1st	11th	26th	4th
GDP (nominal)	10th	8th	12th	3rd	13th	14th	19th
GDP (PPP)	9th	6th	4th	2nd	11th	14th	15th
Exports	21st	11th	23rd	2nd	14th	11th	31st
Imports	27th	17th	16th	3rd	13th	11th	29th
Current account balance	47th	5th	169th	1st	158th	33rd	26th
Received FDI	16th	12th	35th	5th	15th	29th	44th
Foreign exchange reserves	7th	3rd	4th	1st	22nd	7th	26th
External debt	24th	20th	27th	19th	26th	25th	29th
Public debt	47th	117th	29th	98th	93rd	66th	70th
Electricity consumption	10th	3rd	7th	2nd	17th	9th	27th
Number of mobile phones	5th	4th	2nd	1st	11th	22nd	6th
Number of internet users	5th	11th	4th	1st	13th	10th	15th

See also

• Potential superpower
• Emerging market

Bibliography

• Elder, Miriam, and Leahy, Joe, et al., Who's who: Bric leaders take their place at the top table, Financial Times, London, September 25, 2008
• O'Neill, Jim, BRICs could point the way out of the Economic Mire, Financial Times, London, September 23, 2008, p. 28.
• Mark Kobayashi-Hillary, 'Building a Future with BRICs: The Next Decade for Offshoring' (Nov 2007). ISBN 978-3-540-46453-2.

External links

• Goldman Sachs: The BRICs Dream: Web Tour, July 2006
• Grant Thornton IBR - Emerging markets: reshaping the global economy. May 2008
• Grant Thornton IBR - Emerging markets (BRIC) focus. 2007
• Thomas Harr, Senior Analyst, Danske Bank: BRIC The Major Issues; June 2006
• Kristalina Georgieva, Country Director Russian Federation, World Bank: BRIC Countries in Comparative Perspective, 2006
• Article on Brics from the Danish National Bank with extensive statistics and comaprisons with G7 countries and Denmark
• Businessweek article on Goldman Sach's predictions regarding BRIC
• Goldman Sach's predictions for BRIC - pdf
• "Mapping the Global Future: Report of the National Intelligence Council's 2020 Project" - National Intelligence Council report and Forecast
• Luxury Marketing in BRIC Countries: When Fashion and Foreign Policy Converge. Market segment analysis by Criterion Global, International Media Buying firm
• BBC Documentary Archive - four part audio documentary