South Africa joins the economic BRIC wall. 

SA will form part of the grouping of emerging markets, Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). On 23rd December 2010, South African President Jacob Zuma received a formal invitation by Chinese President Hu Jintao for South Africa to join the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) grouping, by attending the third BRIC summit later this year.  This comes after President Zuma paid official state visits to each of the BRIC countries in 2010, in order to strengthen political and economic relations. Given this, there had been speculation in the latter half of 2010, if South Africa would be fit to join what effectively is a club of fast-growing and large emerging economies, perhaps resulting in a ‘BRICSA’, ‘BRICS’ or ‘BRIC + SA’ grouping. 

South Africa aims to use its status in the BRIC WALL, reflecting expectations that it will be the gateway for investment in the fast growing continent. South Africa, with a $285 billion economy, a much smaller population and tepid growth of about 3 percent, pales in comparison to BRIC states Brazil, Russia, India and China. There have been mixed reactions to SA join BRIC. "It's not a natural fit," said Razia Khan, Africa head of research at Standard Chartered. South Africa's economy is less than a quarter of the size of Russia's, which is the smallest in the original grouping. While it may be the largest in Africa, it is only a bit bigger than China's sixth-richest province.  Its biggest backer for BRIC has been its largest trade partner, China.

(source: Reuters and Frontier Advisory)