South Africa and the Tenth BRICS Summit
Originally coined as a term during the early 2000s, BRIC refers to the aggregate weight of Brazil, Russia, India, and China in the global economy. The term was popularized through financial reports developed by the investment bank Goldman Sachs and it foresees the economic importance that these four nations will carry on the world stage during the coming decades. The BRIC economies stand in contrast to the Group of Seven (G7) of the world’s most developed and industrial economies, since most of the BRIC countries are still considered as being developing economies. In 2009, the four respective governments embraced the idea of the BRIC and institutionalized their cooperation at a summit held in Russia. Later, in 2010, South Africa joined the group, which changed to BRICS, and ever since they have held a yearly summit. Last year, the Ninth BRICS Summit was held in China during the month of September. This year, the Tenth BRICS Summit is being held between July 25 and 27 in Johannesburg, South Africa. As of today, the BRICS include two of the world’s three largest economies, notably China with an annual gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$23 trillion (in terms of purchasing power parity, PPP) and India with a GDP of US$9.4 trillion (PPP). Likewise, the BRICS account for approximately 25% of the global economy, while the G7 nations represent about 45%. In some economic and academic literature, authors also talk about the BRIICS, which incorporates Indonesia. However, Indonesia has not been formally incorporated into the economic and political bloc.
South Africa and the Tenth BRICS Summit
As the host of this year’s BRICS Summit and the working group’s latest member, it is important to highlight that the Republic of South Africa is a country at the crossroads of the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans. South Africa has a total territory of 1.22 million square kilometers, which is almost twice the size of Texas. Geographically, hills and an inland plateau along with a long coastline of 2.798 kilometers dominate the country. Currently, South Africa has a total population of almost 55 million citizens, 66% of which live in an urban setting, notably the cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Pretoria. The South African annual GDP is approximately US$757 billion, making it the only African country to be a full member of the Group of Twenty (G20) largest economies in the world. Similarly, South Africa’s national economy has experienced positive, though sluggish, growth in recent years. The national economy is divided into 3% agriculture, 30% manufacturing, and 67% services. Likewise, the South African agricultural industry employs 5% of the national labor force, while manufacturing employs about 23%, and services employ another 72%. Meanwhile, the agriculture industry utilizes some 79% of the national territory, while another 8% is forested.
During 2016, South Africa imported US$77 billion worth of goods and exported US$104 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of US$27 billion. Furthermore, that same year, the country’s main export, representing 20% or US$20.7 billion of the country’s total, was gold. On the other hand, the country’s main import, representing 8.5% or US$6.5 billion of all international purchases, was crude petroleum.