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23 Sep, 2011 15:39

BRICS to the Rescue?

Signs suggest that the power scale is tipping from the Western powers to the BRICS. That is Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

“The remarkable aspect of this is that these were of course former colonies, the European nations, and they're now stepping up and saying we may be able to help bail out the colonizers,”said Sudeep Reddy, economics reporter at the Wall Street Journal. BRICS finance ministers came together today for a meeting at the International Monetary Fund. On the agenda: rescuing the euro zone.“We are in a position to establish greater solidarity amongst ourselves; we decided to therefore step up solidarity among BRICS,”said Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega.Russia’s deputy finance minister told RT this week that the BRICS haven’t yet committed to bailing out the eurozone by buying euro bonds. Sergei Storchak, deputy finance Minister of Russia, said, “This plan does not exist yet.  We are supposed to discuss issues which are on the table already, and what we're going to do is work through IMF.” But Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantea said the group is committed to working together.  “This is really a moment where you might look back and say this is a chance where emerging markets finally got their opportunity to become much bigger players and much bigger powers around the world,” said Reddy.The magnitude of BRICS’ power can be seen in their numbers.  The four countries account for 40 percent of the world’s population, and more than a quarter of the planet’s land.  And a recently released report estimates that combined, BRICS’ GDP will surpass that of the United States in 2015. While some question the feasibility of the group actually rescuing the eurozone, the BRICS, once considered the economic underdogs, seem to be gaining respect on the world stage.

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