Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has proposed to Russia to join BRICS as a partner country in order to strengthen trade and economy through economic partnership. Anwar expressed this intention to Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, last month. The bloc’s GDP has reached for just a over a quarter of the world’s economic output.
The BRICS alliance was founded in
2009 after a Goldman Sachs economist predicted that Brazil, Russia, India and
China could set new growth records in the coming years. With South Africa
joining the organization in 2010, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab
Emirates became new members in January 2024.
If Malaysia’s proposal to
participate as a partner country is approved, it may ease Anwar’s intention to
de-dollarize and replace US$ with other currencies to defend the value of the
ringgit, which has been depreciating since last year.
In terms of economic cooperation,
it is however questionable how much economic benefit the BRICS could bring to
Malaysia if the application is approved, as Malaysia is merely a partner
country. In my opinion, economic ties under the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership (RCEP) and The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for
Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) could potentially bring a bigger piece of the
economic pie for Malaysia.
Since Malaysia is only a partner
country of the BRICS, if approved, the financial support (including loans,
guarantees, equity, etc.) provided by the New Development Bank, the official
bank of the BRICS, to Malaysia’s economic development may be subject to certain
restrictions, which in turn limits to some extent the economic advantages that
the BRICS can truly bring to the country.