The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) intergovernmental organization gained more strength in August through the addition of 6 nations.
The BRICS collective will be joined by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Argentina and Egypt as part of an expanded collective. It could be said that the collective now rivals the G7 and could add significant volatility for currencies and commodities moving forward.
Market participants will likely be expecting greater economic integration between BRICS+ nations and a shift away from U.S. dollar denominated trade amongst members. With BRICS+ already being a commodity and technological powerhouse, the addition of 3 OPEC members (Saudi Arabia, Iran, and UAE) could spur further economic growth among the collective.