AMONG the Brics nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, there are few similarities between the economic and political leadership policies of South Africa - which needs to attract foreign investment to sub-Saharan Africa - and those of the other emerging economies in the group.

 

This is according to economic strategists at investment advisory company Frontier Advisory who spoke at a Brics breakfast in Johannesburg on Friday.

 

CEO Martyn Davies said South Africa joining Brics was the greatest international success of the Zuma administration, and that the sub-Saharan region was well placed to capitalise on the country's membership of the economic grouping.

 

Mr Davies said the first target for Chinese state-owned enterprises was the African continent.

 

Senior associate Arturo Franco said while South Africa joining Brics was a foreign policy victory, it did not share much with other Brics economies other than population and economic size.

 

He said the world centre of economic gravity was shifting to the south and the east rather than to the Brics economies. Consultants have recommended strategies that include doing away with the Brics concept but keeping the countries themselves in an emerging-market group.

 

"These countries are going to grow but investors might be missing out on countries that are growing more, faster and more sustainably," Mr France said. "So I think the elasticity of the Brics concept is going to its full length."

 

Harvard University master of public administration Katherine Tweedie said investment bank Goldman Sachs' introduction of the Bric concept and the strategy of including South Africa into the Brics group had brought benefits.

 

"Even though this is an informal grouping, important soft power co-operation that has come out of it. President Jacob Zuma going to China on a regular basis shows that Goldman Sachs' informal categorisation has resulted in a formalisation of important strategic relationships in this globalised arena," she said.

 

Ms Tweedie said sub-Saharan Africa had improved in fiscal health, reduced civil strife and grown economically amid a commodities boom.

 

A concern, however, was South Africa's exposure to the beleaguered eurozone. "In the new global economy, we are seeing so much volatility" with slowing growth in the European Union, US and Asia, she said.

 

"South Africa and other African countries could break down barriers particularly relating to infrastructure and trade, and foster our domestic consumer markets better. If we can do that within South Africa and the Southern African Development Community, we would be at a huge advantage," she added.

 

Ms Tweedie said South Africa was seen as the stepping stone for investment into sub-Saharan Africa because the country's legal systems and institutions were robust, which minimised risk.