Norris McDonald | BRICS, the world economic crisis and Jamaica’s pragmatism

The China-Russia led BRICS bloc is expanding at a very dramatic pace at a time when the capitalist world economy is facing a deepened crisis. According to Golding Sachs, many of the BRICS countries have a faster rate of economic growth than America and Europe.

Golding Sachs also projects that the BRICS bloc will grow by 189 per cent by 2050. In contrast, the Group of 7 Western industrialised nations may have an economic growth rate that averages 50 per cent by 2050.

RUSSIA TOP ECONOMY IN EUROPE

Russia is now chairing the BRICS group for 2024. At a recent January meeting in Moscow, Russia, six new members joined BRICS. In addition, 34 new countries have eagerly expressed their desire to join.

Russia, as a leading member, is now the fifth largest economy in the world by ‘purchasing power parity’. The International Monetary Fund also says that “the Russian economy is the largest in Europe”.

President Vladimir Putin recently top a victory lap.

“It seems as that we were being strangled and pressured from every side, and yet we are still the largest economy in Europe,” he said.

AMERICA’S ECONOMIC CRISIS

America, meanwhile, is mired in debt and hopelessness, with only 25 per cent of the people saying in a recent poll that they believe in the America dream.

The American economy is anaemic on financial life support by the perpetual borrowing of money. And there is no help coming from rinsing the petrodollar.

Five of the world’s top oil and gas producers are now members of BRICS. This includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Republics, who are now trading in the yuan and their own national currencies. These countries were once a part of the American axis but have now shifted their financial ties to BRICS.

Meanwhile, the Ukraine and Israel war is draining the American national budget. This at a time when America’s national debt is over $32 trillion. Part of this problem is the ballooning military budget.

The American military budget for 2020 was almost $900 billion. Therefore, the priority has been war and the expansion of military bases.

These wars and the expansion of military bases are being done on borrowed money. But all this is running out since countries such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and even Japan no longer want to purchase the American debts.

In the meantime, the depth of the US economic crisis is revealed in the inability of families to survive.

There are over 582,462 people experiencing homelessness across America, which is one in every 10,000 persons, according to the latest data.

Black people are the ones suffering the most, with Black unemployment higher than the national average in America.

For Black Americans there is also a worsening hunger crisis. In 2022, 23 per cent of Black Americans experienced food insecurity. This is almost two-and-a-half times the rate of white people.

In 2022 also, according the US household family survey, 29 per cent of Black children lived in food-insecure households. That is one in three Black children without reliable access to food.

Racial discrimination in jobs, education, housing, and healthcare is a fact in this racist society. But it will not go away unless we keep struggling to get rid of these conditions of life.

A recent study revealed that only 38 per cent of the jobs created in America barely pay enough to support a middle-class lifestyle.

This is truly a dismal picture of the future.

GRIM FUTURE FOR EUROPE

And indeed, Europe, America’s economic peon, is in a great mess.

Chaos is knocking at Europe’s door in the form of farmers storming European capitals.

Germany and the rest of Europe gave up cheap Russian gas, which was the basis of their industrial growth, to import more expensive liquid natural gas from America. America has now banned the export of LNG to Europe so now people are chopping down trees to use as fuel in the winter.

It is like a new epoch of revolution in Europe. At the end of the day, we may well even see the breakup of the European Union, or at the minimum, some countries exiting its doors.

How can America or Europe compete with the BRICS bloc if their focus is on wars and not on human and economic development?

CARICOM BRICS PARTNERSHIP

My dear friends, the world is going through a period of grave war-driven economic crisis. But the crisis of international capitalism has created escape doors for many countries to now pursue independent self-development. Integration with BRICS can be seen as a positive basis for mutual beneficial economic gain.

It is hard for America to stop this mad rush. They are militarily and politically strong, but too financially weak even to try and exert pressure on countries who are seeking to join BRICS.

This shift in international political economic relations offers greater opportunity for CARICOM.

CARICOM ought to seek associate status with BRICS, if they have not done so as yet.

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness has learned a part of this lesson. He is clinging to China like a long-lost brother.

Mr Holness recently praised China in a meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Jamaica was among the first countries in the Caribbean that signed on to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. And the country has benefited a lot from this.

I am not sure what drives Mr Holness’ decision-making. But what is sure is that Mr Holness is not doing like the European leaders and biting the hand that politically sustains him.

That is just the bitta truth.

Norris McDonald is an economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com