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The CIA Factbook [where I found the data used in this post] says China’s GDP [Purchasing Power Parity or PPP] was more than $10 trillion and its real GDP growth rate was 10.3% in 2010, foreign exchange and gold reserves were about $2.9 trillion and its external debt was $529 billion. The current account balance was a positive $305.4 billion (2010 est.)  Public debt was 16.3% of GDP (2010 est.).

India’s GDP [PPP] was $4 trillion with a growth rate of 10.4%, reserves were $287.1 billion and its external debt was $316.9 billion. The current account balance was a negative – $51.78 billion. Public debt was 50.6%.

Brazil’s GDP [PPP] was about $2.2 trillion with a growth rate of 7.5%, reserves were $288.6 billion and its external debt was $396.2 billion. The current account balance was listed as a negative – $47.36 billion.  Public debt was 54.7%.

Russia’s GDP [PPP] was a bit more than $2.2 trillion with a growth rate of 4%, reserves were $479.4 billion and its external debt was $538.6 billion. The current account balance was a $71.13 billion.  Public debt was 9%.

South Africa’s GDP [PPP] was $524 billion with a growth rate of 2.8%, reserves were $43.84 billion, and its external debt was $109.4 billion. The current account balance was a negative – $9.987 billion.  Public debt was 33.4%.

Summary for the BRICS

The BRICS combined GDP [PPP] for 2010 was $18.9 trillion, overall growth of GDP was 7%, foreign exchange and gold reserves were about $3.99 trillion and its external debt was almost $1.9 trillion so the BRICS had more than twice the reserves than it did external debt. The current account balance was a positive $168.263 billion

The WEST

The Economic Health  [or should I say Illness] of the United States

Meanwhile the United States GDP [PPP] was more than $14.6 trillion with a GDP growth rate of 2.8%, reserves were $132.4 billion and its external debt was $14.71 trillion, which means debt is more than 111 (one-hundred-and-eleven) times that of reserves. The current account balance was a negative – $470.2 billion and public debt was 62.9% of GDP.

The Economic Health [or should I say Illness] of Canada

Canada’s GDP [PPP] for 2010 was $1.33 trillion with a GDP real growth rate of 3.1%, reserves of foreign exchange and gold were $57.15 billion, and its external debt was $1.181 trillion in June 2011. The current account balance was a negative – $48.5 billion (2010 est.) and public debt was 84% of GDP (2010 est.)

The Economic Health [or should I say Illness] of the European Union

Member states of the EU (year of entry) — Austria (1995), Belgium (1952), Bulgaria (2007), Cyprus (2004), Czech Republic (2004), Denmark (1973), Estonia (2004), Finland (1995), France (1952), Germany (1952), Greece (1981), Hungry (2004), Ireland (1973), Italy (1952), Latvia (2004), Lithuania (2004), Luxembourg (1952), Malta (2004), Netherlands (1952), Poland (2004), Portugal (1986), Romania (2007), Slovakia (2004), Slovenia (2004), Spain (1986), Sweden (1995), United Kingdom (1973)

The CIA reported that in 2010, the European Union had a GDP [PPP] of $14.82 trillion with a GDP growth rate of 1.8%, there is no listing for foreign exchange and gold reserves. However, the current account balance was a negative -$11.07 trillion with external debt of $16.08 trillion as of June 2011. Public debt is listed for each member country but not for the European Union.  For example: Germany’s public debt was 83.4% of GDP, the United Kingdom was 76.1% and Greece was 142.7%.  Source: CIA Factbook

Summary for the WEST

The WEST’s GDP [PPP] was $30.75 trillion, the average GDP growth rate was 2.56%, external debt was $31.971 trillion and the current account balance was a negative – $11.525 trillion.

As of 2011, the five countries that make up the BRICS were among the fastest growing emerging markets.

Return to The Economic Health of BRICS – Part 6 or Start with Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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Because of the structure of China’s land ownership and banking system, the risk of losing money is much less than in the West and when the government resells property that lost value the first or second time around, the government banks collect another 30% to 60% down payment and also makes money off the interest of the new loans, and the property still belongs to the government—it is only leased for 70 years with an option to extend the lease.

In America, private property seldom belongs to the government. Even when the government repossesses property for any reason, it is usually sold at auction for very low prices with little to no chance to make up for what was lost.

In China, however, the government recycles the money mostly in a loop while the US government is not part of the loop—except when baling out private sector banks, and the money flows in one direction toward the private sector while adding to the national debt.

In addition, in China, Bloomberg reported in December 2011, that China’s property sector equals about  12 percent of China’s GDP and then Bloomberg goes on to discuss property values in China dropping 10, 25, 40 and even 50 percent or more—something that is still devastating the economy in America.

To learn more about property values dropping in China, I suggest reading More on Property Downturn at Patrick Chovanec’s An American Perspective from China

Chovanec wrote, “The revenue shortfall is making it hard for some cities to pay for basic services like police and hospitals, much less repay the massive amount of debt they borrowed for stimulus projects – which, according to this report from Bloomberg, may be much larger than official statistics suggest.”

However, before I move on with more about the BRICS countries, let’s not forget what caused China to borrow for stimulus projects in the first place—the 2008 global economic crises, which led to about 20 million Chinese losing jobs. Is it possible that the 2008 economic tsunami from New York is finally being felt in China?

Interestingly, Global Issues.org says, “While Europe and the US consider more socialist-like policies, such as some form of nationalization, China seems to be contemplating more capitalist ideas, such as some notion of land reform, to stimulate and develop its internal market…”

Continued on January 15, 2012 in The Economic Health of BRICS – Part 5 or Return to Part 3

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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