Saudi Arabia and UAE officially join Brics: What will it mean for the bloc?
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Saudi Arabia along with the UAE, Egypt, Iran and Ethiopia joined Brics on January 1, doubling its membership to 10, with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa the original members.
The addition of the two major Gulf economies to the bloc will “increase the level of linkages between the region and the rest of the world and they will improve capacity to attract investment,” Jihad Azour, the International Monetary Fund's director for the Mena region, told The National.
“Expansion of the Brics multilateral bloc to include Saudi Arabia and UAE augurs extremely well amid ongoing geopolitical and economic challenges confronting the world economy,” Ullas Rao, assistant professor of finance at Edinburgh Business School of Heriot-Watt University in Dubai, said.
“Both Saudi and the UAE as [among] the richest countries on per capita and home to the biggest sovereign wealth funds, create enormous growth opportunities through investments, trade and commerce.”
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