Tuesday, April 19, 2011

BRIC(S) - Why South Africa?

I don't get it. Brazil, Russia, India and China all make sense from any perspective (and were coined in the original Goldman Sachs acronym). But South Africa? South Africa is not in the top GDP nations now and will not be in 2050. South Africa has no important industry to mention, no significant impact on geopolitics and does not fit in any major KPI. Even Jim O'Neill, who "invented" the BRIC doesn't see why this makes sense.

Therefore I see only two reasons why South Africa is now in the club, and not Mexico, Turkey or Indonesia (in my humble opinion far more suitable for the group).

1. The BRIC(S) need a foothold in Africa... or China wants to ensure that it's major target for foreign direct investments is covered by a strategic partner. (That is what O'Neill also believes) But if we are talking geopolitics Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey make at least as much sense.

2. BRICS sounds much better than BRICI, BRICT or BRIMC.

But I will not get sidetracked any further... back to Brazil.
Posted by Neven at 21:00
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 19, 2011 at 9:48 PM

    And Argentina in the G20!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 23, 2011 at 8:32 PM

    My husband were just having this conversation yesterday, why South Africa?

    ReplyDelete
  3. BrunoMay 1, 2011 at 8:25 AM

    Well, if you ever go to South Africa, the feeling is that you are in a first world country. Almost everywhere. And the reason for that is that everything is extremely modern and the infrastructure is incredible,which is completely opposite to what happens in Brazil, so...

    ReplyDelete

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