Algeria formally asks to join BRICS group
Algeria, along with five other countries, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, and Iran, has formally requested to join the BRICS group of nations as it prepares to hold its annual summit in South Africa. An additional 13 countries have formally applied to join the bloc, and six more have made informal inquiries.
The foreign ministers from all five member states have confirmed their attendance at the annual summit, which will be held in Cape Town during the first week of June.
The BRICS nations, which include Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, account for over 40 percent of the global population and around a quarter of the global GDP. According to a recent analysis by Bloomberg, BRICS is expected to soon surpass the US-led G7 states in economic growth expectations.
While both blocs contributed equally to global economic growth in 2020, the western-led bloc’s performance has recently declined. By 2028, the G7 is expected to make up just 27.8 percent of the global economy, while BRICS will make up 35 percent.
The interest from Global South nations to join the bloc comes at a time when Europe is facing a growing energy crisis resulting from sanctions targeting Russian energy markets due to its invasion of Ukraine and the US sabotage of the Nordstream pipeline.
BRICS is also working on developing a “new currency” that will be presented at the organization’s upcoming summit. The new currency will provide an alternative to the US dollar, which has been the dominant global currency since the end of World War II.
