What It Means in Practice
BRICS is an intergovernmental grouping originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — expanded to BRICS+ in 2024 to include additional members. The acronym was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 as an investment-bank shorthand for emerging large economies; the original BRIC (Brazil-Russia-India-China) was an analytical concept, not a political grouping.
BRICS formalized as a leader-level forum in 2009 when Russia hosted the first summit. South Africa joined in 2010, completing the original BRICS five. The grouping has met annually since, with rotating leadership, and has developed working tracks in finance, foreign affairs, security, and sectoral cooperation.
Institutional Substance
The 2014 Fortaleza Summit gave BRICS institutional substance with two major initiatives:
- New Development Bank (NDB) — a multilateral development bank headquartered in Shanghai, capitalized initially at $100 billion. The NDB has approved over 100 projects worth $35+ billion since launch, focused on infrastructure and sustainable development in BRICS and other developing economies.
- Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) — a $100 billion currency-swap and reserve-sharing arrangement designed as a partial alternative to IMF balance-of-payments support.
Neither institution has displaced the or IMF, but both have established BRICS as more than a purely declaratory forum.
BRICS+ Expansion
The 2023 Johannesburg Summit invited Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE to join BRICS. Most joined effective January 2024 (Saudi Arabia remained ambivalent and has not formally completed accession). Argentina was also invited but its incoming Milei government declined to proceed.
The expansion roughly doubled BRICS's share of global oil production, expanded its share of global population to over 45%, and added significant Middle Eastern reach. The BRICS+ membership is more heterogeneous than the original five and reflects the grouping's positioning as a coordination platform rather than an emerging-economy convergence project.
Internal Heterogeneity
BRICS is highly heterogeneous, which limits its capacity for coordinated action:
- China and India are strategic rivals with ongoing border disputes and competing infrastructure visions.
- Russia is under deep Western sanctions and has limited capacity to contribute to the grouping's economic agenda.
- UAE and Iran are regional adversaries with conflicting interests across the Middle East.
- Egypt and Saudi Arabia have different regional alignments and economic models.
- Brazil and South Africa are the smaller economies seeking voice without imposing positions.
This heterogeneity means BRICS is most effective as a shared-grievance platform — dissatisfaction with Western-led institutions — rather than as a positive-agenda coordination forum.
De-dollarization Rhetoric vs Reality
BRICS has consistently floated de-dollarization as a goal. The rhetoric has not translated into meaningful financial alternatives. The dollar remains dominant in BRICS members' own reserves, trade invoicing, and financial transactions. The CRA is small; the NDB lends mostly in dollars; renminbi internationalization has been slow.
The 2024 BRICS summit promised renewed work on a 'BRICS Pay' system and on local-currency settlement — incremental moves that have not yet shifted the dollar's dominance. Critics argue the de-dollarization talk is performative; defenders say small steps accumulate over decades.
Common Misconceptions
BRICS is sometimes described as a coherent geopolitical opposing the West. It is not. Member states have widely divergent positions on Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine, Iran's nuclear program, and most other major global issues. The grouping coordinates loosely, not tightly.
Another misconception is that BRICS expansion is open-ended. The 2024 expansion was carefully managed, and further expansion is being negotiated with deliberation. The 2024 summit declined to expand further despite multiple applications.
Real-World Examples
The 2024 Kazan Summit (Russia hosting) was the first BRICS+ summit and demonstrated the grouping's diplomatic reach despite Russia's international isolation — a coup for Moscow. The NDB project portfolio includes the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail (India), the Russia-China gas pipeline support, and several South African renewable-energy projects. The 2023 South Africa–Russia diplomatic episode — South Africa requesting Putin not attend the BRICS Summit to avoid the ICC arrest question — illustrated the political tensions BRICS+ membership creates.
Example
The 2024 Kazan BRICS summit produced declarations on alternative payment systems and reformed multilateralism but no concrete de-dollarization mechanisms.