Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Iran, and Ethiopia Officially Join BRICS

Abu Dhabi, MINA – According to The National, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Iran and Ethiopia officially joined BRICS on January 1 2024, bringing the group’s membership to ten, with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as a founding member.

Quoted from al Mayadeen on Wednesday, analysts believe that the expansion of the BRICS bloc which includes Saudi Arabia and the UAE will provide new investment possibilities for the two countries with the largest economies in the Arab world while increasing the group’s global influence.

Ullas Rao, assistant professor of finance at Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University in Dubai, stated that both Saudi and the UAE are the richest countries per capita and “home to the largest sovereign wealth funds,” which “are performing very well amid geopolitical and economic challenges facing the world economy.”

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Saudi Arabia’s GDP will increase by 0.8% in 2023 after growing by 8.7% in 2022, the fastest annual growth rate among the world’s 20 largest economies.

A recent World Bank report shows the UAE economy is expected to grow by 3.4% in 2023, with oil GDP growth projected at 0.7% and non-oil GDP growth projected at 4.5 percent, driven by strong performance in tourism, real estate, construction, transportation, manufacturing, and a surge in capital spending.

The UAE is also making trade agreements to improve relations with neighboring countries and is trying to negotiate 26 comprehensive economic cooperation agreements.

Gary Dugan, chief investment officer at Dalma Capital, stated that although the BRICS have an image as a “financially vulnerable group”, the strength of the Kingdom and the UAE “as exporters of capital to the rest of the world will substantially change that perception.” (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)