IDSC Expected Economic Gains with Egypt Joining BRICS

The Information and Decision Support Center of the Cabinet (IDSC) issued a new report entitled “Egypt and the BRICS countries... promising opportunities.”

This is within the framework of the “Information Reports” series, which is a periodic series, in which each report addresses a topic of interest to Egyptian society.

The report dealt with the form of economic and social relations between the BRICS countries until the year 2022 and before the new members joined the bloc at the beginning of 2024, as the economy of the BRICS group (China, Russia, India, Brazil, and South Africa) witnessed many economic and political changes that affected its performance.

This is clear with respect to the total value of the member states’ gross domestic product, which amounted to about $25.8 trillion in 2023, compared to about $11.9 trillion in 2010, the year in which South Africa joined the group, and $2.7 trillion in 2000. The data indicate the ratio of the BRICS countries’ GDP to the global GDP is constantly increasing during the period (2000-2023), surpassing the G7 industrialized countries for the first time in 2020, as the BRICS share reached about 31.02% of the global economy compared to 30.94% of the G7 industrialized countries.

It’s worth noting that the GDP growth rate of the BRICS countries has gone through many stages, ranging from high to low.

In its report, the Information Center reviewed trade exchange between the BRICS countries, where the volume of trade exchange witnessed a growth of 95.2% between 2010 and 2022.

Through the report, the IDSC also shed light on the intra-trade of the BRICS countries, as the value of intra-regional exports between the BRICS countries witnessed remarkable growth between the years (2010-2022).

On the other hand, the value of imports between BRICS countries also witnessed a noticeable increase between 2010 and 2022.

The report further dealt with foreign direct investment flows, as UNCTAD data indicate that foreign direct investment flows to the BRICS group more than quadrupled between 2001 and 2021, as these flows recorded about $355 billion in 2021, compared to about $84 billion in 2001. The share of these flows to total global flows reached about 22% in 2021, compared to about 11% in 2001.

throygh the report, the Center discussed the most important motives and interests that prompted Egypt to join the BRICS bloc, most notably strengthening partnerships regionally and internationally, and maximizing the benefit of the preferential advantages provided by cooperation and trade exchange agreements, whether in terms of attracting investments or opening new markets for exports, as well as the compatibility of the BRICS economic visions with the goals of Egypt Vision 2030.

The report touched on the economic relations between the Egyptian state and the BRICS group, as Egypt has good economic relations with the original member states of the group.

The Information and Decision Support Center also pointed out, through the report, the most important economic gains expected from Egypt’s accession to the BRICS countries, especially with the increase in its members as of January 2024.

The Center indicated through the report that the GDP of the BRICS bloc after the joining of the new members is expected to reach 38% of the expected global gross domestic product in 2024, and it is also expected that the population of the BRICS bloc after the joining of the new members will reach 46% of The total world population during the same year, and that the oil production of the new BRICS countries will reach 43% of the expected global production in 2024.