A French credit body called Coface which has compared the BRICS countries with emerging countries has said that these emerging countries are accelerating their development and a “top 10” emerges with good production prospects sufficient financing to support expansion of their economies
BRICS is an acronym that refers to economic group of Countries that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, all of them at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development
"After ten years of frenetic growth" the big five emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - the Brics - "are slowing down sharply," the French trade credit and insurance group Coface said.
In a report entitled "Coface identifies ten emerging countries hot on the heels of the Brics," the organisation said that average economic growth by the Brics this year would be 3.2 percentage points less than the average in the last ten years.
But "at the same time, other emerging countries are accelerating their development," it said.
The growth of emerging economies and the effect this has on world trade flows is closely analysed by economists, because of the huge impact on every aspect of the global economy and power balances.Coface broke the ten new emerging economies it has identified into two groups.
The first comprises Peru, the Philippines, Indonesia, Colombia and Sri Lanka, which it named as a group with various types of new emerging economies.They had "strong potential confirmed by a sound business environment," Coface said.
The second group comprises Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. But these countries are marked by "very difficult or extremely difficult business environments which could hamper their growth prospects," Coface said.
However, the head of country risk at Coface, Julien Marcilly, said that in 2001 "the quality of governance in Brazil, China, India and Russia was comparable to that of Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Bangladesh and Ethiopia today".
But the ten "new emerging countries" currently accounted for only 11.0% of the world population whereas the Brics had accounted for 43% of the population in 2001.
The total gross domestic product of the new 10 was only 70% of the output of the Brics in 2001 and they had a current account deficit of about 6.0% of GDP whereas the Brics had run a surplus on average.
