From BRICS to BRICS+

Out of the more than 40 countries that have expressed interest in joining the BRICS bloc, the leaders of the five founding members announced in August 2023 that Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates would join the BRICS in January 2024. The BRICS+ countries now represent around 45 percent of the world’s population and around a third of global GDP. Originally the BRICS were founded as an economic alternative to the Western bloc led by the USA and the EU. The idea was to offer the countries of the Global South a counterweight to Western institutions. In the new EconPol Forum our authors discuss the geoeconomic implications of the BRICS enlargement.