Growing Trade Relations of BRICS with Low Income Countries:Special Reference to the Role of India and China in Africa’s Development Paradigm

【摘要】：The acronym, BRIC, was coined by Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs way back in 2001. He predicted that by year 2050, Brazil, Russia, India and China would become bigger than the present six most industrialized nations in dollar terms, and would completely change the power dynamics of the past 300 years. In 2010, BRIC was expanded into BRICS, to include another rising power, South Africa.These six emerging powerful countries are not an obvious set. They are dissimilar in their internal politics, economic power, cultural and linguistic traditions, development challenges and power projections. Despite a range of differences between them, BRICS has outstripped most expectations in recent years, in forming a promising political grouping. The BRICS countries have come together to set up a multilateral co-operative arrangement to solve shared problems and challenges of globalization. With a combined GDP of $8.7 trillion (6.2 trillion euros) in 2010, the BRIC economies (minus South Africa, a later addition), have accounted for 30% of global economic growth. During the same period, the other significant achievement is that the BRIC collective trade with the world increased almost six-fold from $790 billion to $4.4 trillion. Moreover, according to an IMF estimate, the projected combined GDP of BRICS will reach $21 trillion, exceeding that of USA which is estimated to reach $18.8 trillion. Because of the growing influence of their economies in global trade, the BRICS countries are vocal about changing dollar supremacy in international trade transaction. In addition to their contribution to global trade, the BRICS economies have contributed to an increase in trade among developing countries, which is growing three times faster than the trade growth rate among advanced economies. Furthermore, BRIC economies have contributed up to 60% of trade between low income countries (LIC) and non-LIC emerging economies, with bilateral trade between the BRICS and LICs increasing by about 25% annually in the past decade. The rapid growth of BRIC economies has helped create the global commodity boom of the past decade and contributed to a significant improvement in the terms of trade for LICs. The respective roles played by India and China in boosting Sub-Saharan African economies in recent years are of significance. Over the past five years, Africa's trade with China and India has increased dramatically, reorienting trade away from their traditional partners, OECD countries. Both China and India are heavy consumers of crude petroleum, copper, iron ore, nickel, etc. and are also important markets for various agricultural products like cotton, rubber, etc. The demand for these commodities in the markets has significant impact on world prices. Sub-Saharan Africa has an export structure that is highly concentrated on primary commodities and thus, sufficiently benefited in the process. Between 1999 and 2008, Africa's terms of trade improved by around 30%, far more than any other developing region. This reflects the increase in the international prices of a number of primary commodities, particularly oil and minerals. The aim of this article is to deepen our understanding on the impact of growing trade relations between BRICS and low income countries, with special reference to the role of India and China in the development of the economies of Sub-Saharan African countries.