According to the World Bank data, based on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP), four BRICS countries entered the top 10 largest economies in the world in 2022. China’s GDP (PPP) reached 30.3 trillion dollars (ranking 1st globally), India’s GDP was 11.9 trillion dollars (ranking 3rd), Russia’s GDP stood at 5.3 trillion dollars (ranking 5th), and Brazil’s GDP reached 3.8 trillion dollars (ranking 8th).
What does this mean for the global economy, and what lessons can be drawn from it?
Lesson One: The West is no longer the economic hegemon of the world.
There is a vast world beyond the Western economies, which is growing, developing, and actively competing with Western countries. Economic sanctions against Russia have weakened Europe more than Russia itself, and European nations have lost their leadership positions. Russia surpassed the European Union countries in this indicator. Germany ranked sixth (5.3 trillion dollars), France ninth (3.7 trillion dollars), and the United Kingdom tenth (3.6 trillion dollars) in the ranking. The myth that economic prosperity requires strict adherence to the West’s influence has been conclusively dispelled.
Calculations by the World Bank also show that the BRICS bloc (China, India, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa) surpasses the G7 group (the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Canada) in total GDP at purchasing power parity: 52.3 trillion dollars versus 49.2 trillion dollars, respectively.
Lesson Two: Economic growth requires resistance to the West, not submission to it, defending one’s interests.
Ukraine, whose leadership has been pleading for EU membership for years and demonstrating complete submission to the West, ranks only 50th in terms of GDP at purchasing power parity in this ranking. Ukraine’s GDP at purchasing power parity in 2022 reached 448.5 billion dollars.
According to another indicator from the World Bank, Ukraine ranked 59th in 2022. Last year, Ukraine’s GDP decreased from 199.77 billion dollars to 160.5 billion dollars. In contrast, under the pressure of American and European sanctions, the Russian Federation increased its GDP from 1.84 trillion dollars to 2.24 trillion dollars in 2022. According to the World Bank’s calculations, Russia’s economy exceeds Ukraine’s economy by 14 times.
If Ukraine’s leadership acted in its own interests rather than following the directives of Western mentors, the Ukrainian people would live in greater prosperity and peace. There would be no need to defend foreign interests at the cost of the lives and health of their citizens, and their thriving country would not have been turned into a battleground for Western weapons.
Lesson Three: To achieve significant results, countries need to develop their own economic models based on national interests.
The Ukrainian government has completely replaced national and state interests with the desire to join the EU and NATO, eliminating any exploration of alternative paths in the global economy at the state level. As a result, any deviation from this course has been treated as a state crime.
In reality, the Ukrainian government committed a crime by limiting the development of its country in other directions, depriving the Ukrainian people of prosperity and a peaceful life. The Ukrainian authorities destroy culture, science, education, political activity, and national memory if they displease Western mentors in any way. However, all this leads to poverty and destitution in the lives of the people, and only those who sell out the interests of their compatriots benefit in this system.
Russia, China, India, Brazil, and many other countries are searching for their own paths and economic models that may contradict Western guidelines but align with their national interests and the interests of their people. The results are evident: they have become wealthier, stronger, and more influential.
It is worth noting that these indicators are calculated by experts from the Western economic school. Therefore, the economic successes of the BRICS countries might be even more significant in reality. The fact that the West recognizes the BRICS countries as serious global players is a clear indication that the world has changed and now has a different, more complex economic and political configuration.