Patrick Bond believes the BRICS bloc will in fact prove to be damaging to South Africa’s economy.
BRICS is an association of five major emerging national economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – intended to encourage economic growth and social development. Writing for Pambazuka News, however, Bond insists that the infrastructure investments entered into involving South Africa are “mainly aimed at extraction of resources, along neo-colonial lines”.
In March 2013, it was telling that the single biggest deal announced at the BRICS summit was a Chinese bank loan to Transnet of $5 billion; and it is telling that exactly a year later, the largest investment Transnet has ever undertaken was announced: $4.8 billion in locomotive purchases.
Such locomotives were once made in South Africa; now the critical first batch of more than 1000 will be imported from China, through the Durban port.
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- Politics of Climate Justice: Paralysis Above, Movement Below by Patrick Bond
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EAN: 9781869142216
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