Davos, Switzerland - The economic slowdown confronting China and the impact that sliding global oil prices were having on the Russian economy would not jeopardise plans that the Brics had put in place, President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday.
The group consists of five of the world’s key emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Speaking to Business Report in Davos, Zuma said the Brics grouping was a “very important factor in the global economy”, and the commitments that the group had made would not be jeopardised by what was going on in China and Russia.
“They are not in jeopardy at all,” Zuma said. He added that once the Brics development bank was established: “I don’t think there will be a problem.”
As a bloc, the Brics account for almost $16 trillion (R185 trillion) in gross domestic product and some 40 percent of the world’s population.
Zuma said China was merely slowing down as its economy continued to grow slightly more than 7 percent.
The Brics central plan evolves around the creation of a $50 billion development bank and the creation of a $100bn dollar liquidity reserve.
“The conversation is saying, Brics is here to stay,” Zuma said.
“We would have our own resources to finance ourselves and finance the developing countries. For the first time, the developing countries are beginning to say there is a bank that is going to be doing things differently and it is going to have a branch on the African continent,” he added.
Zuma said the Brics comprised strong countries and the conversations about the global financial framework needed to include an understanding about the critical role the Brics were going to play in reforming the global financial architecture.
“These countries are very strong and they are very independent-thinking countries, and they’ve got resources, particularly if we talk China, Russia and India,” Zuma said.
“It’s a grouping that’s developing a different frame of mind. It’s an important factor in the global economy,” he added.