Goldman Fund Walks Away From BRICS Era

The economies of China, India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa, with 42 percent of the world’s population, totaled about 22 percent of global gross domestic product in 2015, as projected by the International Monetary Fund. The US economy represents the same share of global GDP with about one-tenth of the BRICS’s population. A former chief economist of the investment bank Goldman Sachs coined the term BRIC to refer to four large emerging markets. South Africa was added later. The investment bank developed a fund on BRICS investments: Assets fell from $800 million in 2010 to $100 million, and the fund has been folded into a broader emerging markets fund. “By shutting the fund, the Wall Street bank has signalled an end of an era in which the four developing economies – Brazil, Russia, India and China – appeared to be shaping a new world order,” reports Ben McLannahan for Financial Times, adding that the group “remains determined to impose itself as a distinct geopolitical force.” Slowing economies, lower prices for commodities and varying cultures challenge BRICS’s cohesion. – YaleGlobal