BRIC economy to surpass US by 2015: Study

BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- are expected to contribute one-third of the world's GDP increment in 2015, by which time their total economy will surpass America, according to a leading Chinese think tank.

Estimated on the basis of current market exchange rates, the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, Indian, China) grouping would make up about 22 per cent of the world economy by then, said the Annual Report on BRICS' Social-Economic Development (2011), a blue book released Thursday by the Social Sciences Academic Press of China.

BRIC formally became BRICS this year with the admission of South Africa into its fold.

This year's BRICS summit is scheduled to be held in China's Sanya resort on April 13-14.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with the heads of other BRICS countries, is scheduled to attend it.

The report predicted that the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, Indian, China, South Africa) countries would have a stable and fairly rapid growth momentum in the next 15 years due to a favourable external environment brought on by the steady growth in major developed economies.

Lin Yueqin, the book's executive editor, noted in the abstract that the purpose of the study was to reveal the underlying rules of development in emerging economies and the tendencies of global development and governance, Xinhua news agency reported.