Goldman Sachs says 'halcyon days' for BRICs consigned to history

[LONDON] A recovery in Bric countries won't recapture growth rates that brought them to prominence a decade ago, according to the chief emerging-market macro strategist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc, the bank which coined the term.

Kamakshya Trivedi said slowing demand in China, the world's largest consumer of commodities, will continue to encroach on growth throughout the developing world. The country is responsible for about 40 per cent of emerging-market output, according to Goldman Sachs.

"I'm not expecting a return to those halcyon days," said Mr Trivedi, who was part of the team that made Goldman's projections for Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called Brics.

"In a world where China is slowing, it is going to be hard for the aggregate to go back to the kind of growth rates of 2005 to 2007."

The slowdown and a collapse in commodity prices that has knocked one-third off their value in the past two years marks the end of an era of rapid expansion for Brics. The nations were tipped as a global economic engine at the start of the century and by 2010, China's economy was expanding at an annual rate of 10.6 per cent. This year, growth in the world's second-largest economy is forecast at 6.5 per cent.

Still, while trend growth is lower than a decade ago, emerging markets are starting to accelerate again, Mr Trivedi said. He cited "significant easing of financial conditions" in developing nations that will help alleviate economic slumps in Brazil and Russia.

"To really make a much more bang-the-table, bullish argument for emerging markets, you need that growth side of things to come back," he said. "You are seeing the first signs of that."

BLOOMBERG