BRICS News

The forum called for multi-pronged cooperation between BRICS countries ahead of the annual summit in Xiamen in September [Xinhua]
Fuzhou, the capital of southeast China’s Fujian Province, today played host to more than 400 economic, political and social representatives from BRICS meetings who are meeting to boost cooperation.
The BRICS representatives are looking for ways to come up with projects and proposals that will facilitate in-depth joint initiatives which will be endorsed at the Ninth BRICS Summit in neighboring Xiamen city in September.

BRICS is home to 43% of the world’s population [Xinhua]
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is calling on major developed and developing countries to find new ways to ensure that globalization succeeds.
In its latest economic outlook published on Wednesday, the organization of 35 countries said that global economic growth in 2017 and 2018 was expected to pick up pace but was still not sufficient to “sustain strong gains in standards”.

Gordhan’s firing at the end of March weakened investor confidence and ultimately GDP growth [Xinhua]
The first quarter 2017 gross domestic product data released by Statistics South Africa on Tuesday had something for both optimists and pessimists.
The optimists focused on the steady improvement in the year-on-year (y/y) growth rate that has increased from a dismal -0.6 per cent y/y in the first quarter 2016 to 1.0 per cent y/y in the first quarter 2016.

Qatari markets are likely to suffer further in the coming days as the country is locked out of regional trade and exchange [Xinhua]
Markets in the Middle East took a hit following announcements from Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Yemen that they had severed ties with Qatar over its alleged ties to “extremist” groups.
Qatar’s QE Index became the world’s worst performing and hardest hit Middle Eastern exchange on Monday as a result of the break in diplomatic ties when it lost 7.27 per cent of its value at press time.

Abe and Putin during a bilateral summit in Nagato, Japan on December 15, 2016.A peace treaty, including resolution of the Kuril Islands dispute, has eluded both countries [Image: PPIO]
Russian officials have said that Japan will dispatch a trade delegation to the South Kuril islands in July to meet with their Russian counterparts in order to pave the way for joint economic projects on the territory which Tokyo disputes as its own.

The GDP growth rate for the first quarter of 2017 came lower than most experts had expected [Xinhua]
India’s GDP growth in the first quarter of 2017 slumped dramatically to 6.1 per cent – its lowest level in two and a half years, the federal Central Statistics Office (CSO) said late Wednesday.
The surprise drop in the growth rate pulled India from its status as the world’s fastest growing economy.
India’s Central Bank (RBI) is expected to maintain its December 2016 policy to keep interest rates at 6.25 per cent despite the latest economic figures.

The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector rose for the 10th consecutive month [Xinhua]
China’s securities regulator intervened in the stock market earlier this week and announced a slew of new rules and provisions to protect small investors from the practice of dumping stocks, which left the exchanges dealing with often irregular trade.
The new regulations will affect the sale of stock by major shareholders.

Russian media sees the Putin visit to France as a victory for the country’s foreign policy [Xinhua]
Newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron will host Russian President Vladimir Putin at Versailles today in what French media have said is likely to be an introductory, informal meeting giving both leaders a chance to get to know one another.
Macron is known to have been the least leaning toward Putin; his elections rival Marine Le Pen had actually called for a lifting of EU and US sanctions on Russia due to the crisis in Ukraine and Crimea.

Trump recently called the Germans “bad, very bad” for their trade surplus with the US [Xinhua]Days after a debate with Trump that the German Chancellor described as “very dissatisfying”, Angela Merkel on Sunday cast doubts on the EU’s alignment with the United States and Britain, saying Europeans should determine their own destiny.

North Korea has in recent months increased the frequency of ballistic missile testing, all believed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads [Xinhua]
The North Korean military on Sunday tested a new anti-aircraft weapon, according to the country’s news agency.
This is the third weapons test in as many weeks as Pyongyang says it is responding to threats from the United States and South Korea.
The North Korean military also accused Seoul of flying a pilot-less drone into its territory on Saturday.