Update: BRICS is still an acronym.

That's it.

Spoiler: This is an update of my post a year ago. Apparently, BRICS has a more members now. They seem to be Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE. All of the new countries are of course dictatorships. The enlarged BRICS makes no difference.

BRICS is often said that it will replace the “Collective West” as the major global power whatever that means. The “Collective West” are the countries which the little person in the kremlin and his horse-face of a foreign minister name the countries which oppose the kremlin’s genocidal war.

The Collective West is richer and freer than the BRICS. People who live in countries in the West are freer than people who live in BRICS countries. People in the West are free to think, speak, read, and write. People in BRICS countries are oppressed.Countries in the West are democratic. Most countries in BRICS are dictatorships.

BRICS trade more with countries in the West than with each other. Thus, the Collective West matters more for BRICS countries than other BRICS countries. Countries in the rest of the world, excluding Collective West and BRICS, matter just as much as BRICS countries for BRICS. FDI within BRICS still make up for small shares in FDI, there won’t be a BRICS currency, their New Development Bank undertakes very few projects, it issues loans in dollars and euros, and still refuses to undertake projects in one of the member countries: muscovy.

No, BRICS is not richer than the “Collective West”.

A lot of people are stupid. BRICS supporters are often stupid beyond belief. They prove by posting idiotic statements that GDP of the BRICS countries is larger than the US and EU together. And then GDPs are often presented in nominal terms by the BRICS fans just to emphasise how moronic they are. What matters is of course prosperity, i.e. a measure of economic development per capita. GDP per capita is still the best measure of prosperity. And GDP per capita for all BRICS countries but Saudi Arabia and UAE are far below that of USA and the EU. Oil makes a difference.

GDP per capita in countries in the Collective West and in BRICS countries.

Source: Our World in Data

As mentioned above, BRICS supporters are moronic. They cheer and celebrate China’s sensational economic growth after the death of Mao the moronic mass murderer. They also think that China will reach and outgrow USA in the not to distant future. That will of course never happen.

But BRICS seem to be on the right track towards the achievements of other goals. At least if one is to believe the little internationally wanted war criminal in the kremlin. He has many times said that an international order by BRICS would be fairer and more harmonious. We all know what the internationally wanted war criminal means by that. More harmonious for the dictators. More fair in the Orwellian sense that men are equal but that some men are more equal than others. And the others in BRICS should not expect any civil liberties or freedom of expression than they have today. Because that would not be harmonious for the dictators.

Liberal democracy and Freedom of expression indices for the “Collective West” and BRICS 1999-2023.

Source: Varieties of Democracy. Note: The Liberal democracy index gauges the importance of protecting individual and minority rights against the tyranny of the state and the tyranny of the majority. The Freedom of expression index shows the extent to which governments respect press and media freedom, as well as cultural and academic freedoms and political discussions on the streets and in the homes. The lower the index, the worse the conditions.

The “Collective West” matters more for all BRICS countries than itself.

As in my previous post about BRICS, I will use data from OECD’s Trade in value added database also in this post. My previous post about BRICS is here.

The database has been updated and the last available data is now for 2020. It includes data for the original five BRICS countries plus Egypt and Saudi Arabia. As in the previous post, the data shows that the “Collective West”, matter more for BRICS countries than other BRICS countries. There are different ways to measure the interdependence of countries. One way is to look at how much of final demand for a countries goods is made up by imports from other countries. Below I will look at final demand consumed within the BRICS countries. Final demand consumed within a country equals private and public consumption plus private and public investments. This can be produced with both domestic and imported goods, parts and components. Since it is final demand, the values are in terms of value added, not gross production.

As in the previous post, I begin by using data from OECD on trade in value added. In all countries, most of final demand is made up of domestic goods, parts, and components. Thus, domestic value added shares normally account for between 80% and 90% of final demand consumed within countries. That is also the case for Brazil, India and the five dictatorships in the table below. The highest foreign shares are found in Saudi Arabia, 22%, and in the The Fascist Horde, aka muscovy, 20%. The lowest foreign share is found for China.

Domestic and foreign value added shares in final demand in 2020. Percent.

Source: OECD.

If we are to believe all those that Heil the dictatorship club BRICS, the BRICS countries will break away from the “West” and become much bigger, and better by trading only with each other because they do not need the “Collective West” as old horse-face, aka, Lavrov, usually calls democratic countries whose citizens are protected from being tortured or killed by their governments by Rule of Law, totally absent in the Fascist Horde. Anyway, let us see how independent from the “West” the seven BRICS countries above were in 2020 when it comes to satisfy domestic final demand.

BRICS needs the Collective West more than it needs itself.

Not independent at all. For each of the seven BRICS countries below, other BRICS countries goods, parts, and compoents only make up between 11%, (China), and 32% (South Africa) of the foreign value added of final demand. For muscovy, it would be embarrassing for old horse-face Lavrov if he knew, (but he doesn’t have a clue) that the “Collective West” accounts for more than half, (55%), of the foreign value added share of final demand consumed within the Fascist Horde, aka muscovy.

For each BRICS country, the “Collective West” is the most important supplier. “West” accounts for between 41%, (India), and 62%, (China) of the foregin value added shares in final demand in the BRICS countries. A funny fact visible below is that BRICS countries account for the smallest part share of foreign value added shares, on average 24% while Rest of the World (RoW) accounts for 25%. Not exactly the picture the BRICS supporters want you to see.

Shares in foreign value added in final demand in seven BRICS countries for other BRICS countries, “West” countries and the Rest of the World. Percent.

Source: OECD. Note: “West” is made up by EU27, UK, USA, Norway, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. As in my previous post.

BRICS needs the Rest of the World just as much as it needs BRICS.

On average, countries making up the aggregae RoW (Rest of the World) make up for 4.2% of BRICS’s countries foreign value added shares. BRICS’s share is equally small.

BRICS needs China but China does not need BRICS.

Another funny fact is that while China is the most important country for BRICS in BRICS, BRICS does not matter much for China. Imports from China account for between 7% (Egypt) and 17% (muscovy) of the foreign value added shares in final demand for the other BRICS countries. They, on the other hand, only account for 12% of the foreign value added in Chinese domestic final demand. West accounts for 62% and RoW for 27%.

BRICS does not need the Fascist Horde

The Fascist Horde is close to irrelevant for Chinese domestic final demand. Imports from the Fascist Horde account for less than 3% of Chinese foreign value added. Actually, the Fascist Horde is mostly irrelevant for the rest of BRICS too. Its share in foreign value added for the BRICS countries range between 0.6% (South Africa), and 2.7% (China).

The numbers above refer to 2022 so this has changed. It may have increased in China and India because those countries and Türkiye buy the lion shares of fascist oil now. On the other hand, the price is set below market value because of the G7 price cap. I don’t know how this affects the numbers above. But apart from fossil fuel which the World is going to get rid off, the Fascist Horde is only good at death and destruction.

The internationally wanted war criminal in the kremlin has ordered his horse-face of “foreign minister” to go around Africa and Latin America to find support and establish economic relationships. Why this should succedd when it hasn’t in the past is beyond me. The truth is, as I showed previously, that, for most countries, muscovy just doesn’t matter.

Decouple from muscovy!

Not a lot of FDI within BRICS

And it doesn’t seem as BRICS’ firms invest that much in each other as one would expect from all this noise about its importance. Most of FDI inflows in Brazil, Indian and South Africa are made by American and European firms. In fact, as UNCTAD's World Investment Reports 2022-2024 show, most of the FDI flows and stocks in BRICS countries are done and held by investors from non-BRICS countries. And most of BRICS’s FDI outflows and stocks are directed to and held in non-BRICS countries.

Yet, the Fascist Horde significantly affects the FDI trends. As I noted in the previous post

The direct effects of the war on investment flows to and from the Russian Federation and Ukraine include the halting of existing investment projects and the cancellation of announced projects, an exodus of MNEs from the Russian Federation, widespread loss of asset values and sanctions virtually precluding outflows.

The value at risk is significant. MNEs from developed economies that support the sanctions account for more than two thirds of FDI stock in the Russian Federation (with a significant part of the rest accounted for by offshore financial centres (OFCs)). In contrast, to date, MNEs from China and India account for a negligible share of FDI stock in the Russian Federation (less than 1 per cent), although their share in ongoing projects is larger

And in the 2024 World Investment Report, again:

Finally, the ranking of the top 100 MNEs was also affected by divestments or exits from the Russian Federation. OMV (Austria) dropped out of the ranking after suffering losses due to the expropriation of its stake in the Yuzhno-Russkoye oil and gas field. Between 2022 and 2023, MNEs in the ranking made 36 significant divestments from the Russian Federation, with the largest write-downs and charges concentrated among MNEs in the oil and gas and extractive industries.

De-dollarisation and a BRICS currency still won’t happen

I wrote about that in my previous post. I have no reason to change my view on that. The new US financial sanctions foreign financial institutions that deal with Russia’s war economy, may mean that muscovy uses dollars less. So what?

The BRICS’s bank, New Development Bank refuses to invest in the Fascist Horde and issues loans in dollars and euros.

The New Development Bank was founded in 2014 by five countries. It now has three more members. Egypa and UAE two of them also BRICS countries but haven’t delivered much, neither in approved nor completed projects. And it is not undertaking anything in the Fascist Horde since February 2022.

The New Development Bank (NDB) applies sound banking principles in all its operations, as stated in its Articles of Agreement.

In light of unfolding uncertainties and restrictions, NDB has put new transactions in Russia on hold.

NDB will continue to conduct business in full conformity with the highest compliance standards as an international institution.

As I mentioned above, there won’t be a de-dollarisation. Especially not íf BRICS’s bank continues to issue loans in dollars.

Conclusion. BRICS is still an acronym. No more, no less

Some people even call it a fake.

BRICS is fake