Thanks to Wikicommons.
We’ve all tried to join exclusive clubs (and if you’re like US Democrazy you’ve been kicked out of most of them).
Last week South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma stated his countries goal of joining one of the newest (and hippest) clubs on the global stage, BRIC.
Not to be confused with the construction material BRIC is creatively named for its members, Brazil, Russia, India, and China. This group informally has friendly relations (and has pot luck dinners once a month).
Why is BRIC such a hip group? Well for one thing it’s members are using tons of bricks to grow their economies at impressive rates, especially China which recently became the world’s second largest economy.
The question that’s being asked is South Africa economically strong enough to join?
Well the country did successfully run the 2010 World Cup drawing international attention to the progress that has been made since the fall of Apartheid in 1994. This is a big achievement for any up and coming nation and one to be followed in 2014 by Brazil, already a member of the club.
However, numerically South Africa’s economy does not stand up. The GDP of South Africa, $287.2 billion, is far below that of the smallest BRIC GDP, Russia, at $75.81. Not only is the size of South Africa’s economy smaller than that of BRIC nations but its growth has been far slower.
Combine this with strikes bring parts of South Africa to a stand still and things don’t look good for the nations hopes.
Even though South Africa may not be ready to join the club they can still be friends. China and South Africa have increasingly strengthened economic ties with China becoming South Africa’s largest trading partner. Why the friendship? Quite simply Africa wants economic growth and China wants raw resources so its a match made in economic heaven.
What’s this all mean for us back in the states. Well for one thing, the US used to be South Africa’s largest trading partner so expect to see Chinese influence grow in Africa.
Secondly…, well we really don’t have a secondly. So why don’t you, our readers pitch in, ideas for clubs that we should join.
