Comparative assessment of the economic potentials of the BRICS countries and the "Group of Seven"

The article compares the BRICS countries and the Group of Seven (G7) on the basis of GDP indicator at current prices and based on purchasing power parity (PPP). Analysis of the data for BRICS comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, as the largest developing economies, and the G7, which includes USA, Germany, Japan, France, UK, Italy and Canada as the largest advanced economies, shows interesting results. The IMF’s GDP data, based on PPP, shows a steady decline in the G7’s share of global GDP and an equally steady increase in the contribution of the BRICS countries. The shares of each group of countries in global GDP were studied, as well as the annual percent change in real GDP. There is no doubt about the competition between the economies of both groups of countries. From the PPP point of view, the economies of the BRICS countries are collectively more powerful than the economies of the Group of Seven countries, and the trend of a gradual shift in the economic balance of power between the G7 and the BRICS countries towards the latter is clearly expressed. The share of BRICS countries in the global GDP by PPP is higher than the same indicator calculated at current prices.