BRICS Expansion and New Partnership Opportunities: Macroeconomic Analysis

The BRICS, as an interstate association, was created to strengthen and optimize the interaction of the participating countries in the economic field. For 2023, the BRICS member countries were Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa. However, following the results of the XV summit of the participating countries in Johannesburg (August 2023), it was decided that the quantitative composition of the BRICS would increase to 11 participants from 2024, that is, more than doubled due to the accession of six more countries to the organization – Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Argentina. The hypothesis of the study is that the expansion of the BRICS will have specific and far-reaching stimulating consequences for the global economy, the participating countries in various fields of economic, scientific, technical, financial and other types of cooperation. The purpose of the article is to analyze the economic consequences of the growth of the quantitative composition of the BRICS both for the participating states themselves and the global economy as a whole. The author substantiates the point of view that the expansion of the BRICS in the context of growing global instability will stimulate interstate cooperation not only with the participating countries, but also with third countries due to their more active involvement in new mechanisms of interaction. This will require efforts and costs on the part of all BRICS states, since the change in the global geo-economic configuration, as well as the BRICS ecosystem, carries new risks due to the growth of differentiation and pain points of the organization. The scientific novelty of the article is contained in the study of the potential opportunities of the BRICS and the transformation of the organization and its role in the world economy system, taking into account new opportunities and challenges. Moreover, both will have a synergistic effect. The author argues the point of view about the growing pressure on the BRICS in the new format in the short and medium term due to increased risks, which requires greater coordination of actions in the organization's system. It is important for countries to expand and consistently implement joint and adequate measures in the normative, technical, economic and organizational spheres of interaction.