Is BRICS Expansion Significant for Global Trade and GDP?

Five members of the BRICS association had invited six other countries, Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to join the group from 1 January 2024; four of these accepted the invitation. The paper discusses the critical questions as to whether this expansion will enable the BRICS+ to become a greater contributor to the world GDP and trade, and if the intra-BRICS trade will be more significant than it is now. We expect the share of expanded BRICS in the global GDP to increase by 3%, reaching 28% and the share in the world trade to increase by 5%; the intra-BRICS trade should also rise by 5%. The intra-BRICS trade of the old members has grown considerably over the years. The share of exports by the new members is not large; it increases for some of them and decreases for others, with exports to the older members being much greater than those to the newer members.