1  www.southafrica.diplo.de. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  2. BRICS and South Africa  The BRIC countries, as the grouping was initially known, admitted South Africa as a member to the club in December 2010.
There were many criticisms levelled towards the inclusion of South Africa in this grouping, with the perception that South Africa’s economic size was just too small for it to have any benefits for the BRIC.