, has declined from levels of close to 80 per cent to 60 per cent in 2015. this most likely reflects to some extent the slowdown in china. in terms of imports from bric countries, china accounts for 72 per cent of south africa ’ s imports from bric, followed by india with approximately 20 per cent. most of the imports from china relate to machinery products and in india ’ s case, mineral products. thus, while trade with bric countries has expanded, there has been a slowdown in export growth more recently, with a consequent increase in the trade deficit with bric countries. 3. brics in the global context increased globalisation has meant that brics has become an important source of global growth and political influence. brics economies have grown rapidly with their share of global gdp rising from 11 per cent in 1990 to almost 30 per cent in 2014. brics account for over 40 per cent of the world population, hold over us $ 4 trillion in reserves and account for over 17 per cent of global trade. financial markets in the brics countries have similarly expanded in a rapid manner. for example, in the 20 years until 2010, brazil ’ s market capitalisation increased from a very low 4 per cent of gdp to 74 per cent, india from 12 per cent to 93 per cent, russia and china from almost zero to 70 per cent and 81 per cent, respectively. in south africa, market capitalisation has more than doubled from 123 per cent to 278 per cent. according to s & p global market intelligence global bank rankings, banks from these five countries figured among the top 100 banks in the world, with the top 4 banks headquartered in china. it therefore comes as no surprise then that these economies became the new engines of global demand. having been victims of the global financial crisis, and suffering the impact of large and volatile capital flows and what mohamed el erian has referred to as “ tourist www. brics5. co. za, south africa in brics. world bank 2016 global economic prospects : sub - saharan africa. all figures in eur quoted at exchange rates prevailing at the time. bis central bankers ’ speeches dollars ” 5, the brics countries were propelled into a common objective of reforming the international financial and monetary system, with a strong desire to build a more just, and balanced international order that reflects the dynamics of today ’ s global economy and serves the interests of all in a fair manner. to this end, the five countries

european central bank : press conference – introductory statement introductory statement by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, and mr vitor constancio, vice - president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 13 january 2011. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. let me wish you all a very happy new year. i would also like to take this opportunity to welcome estonia as the seventeenth country to adopt the euro as its currency. accordingly, mr lipstok, the governor of eesti pank, became a member of the governing council on 1 january 2011. following the adoption of the euro by estonia there are now 331 million citizens using the euro as their currency. we will now report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting, which was also attended by commissioner rehn. based on its regular economic and monetary analyses, the governing council confirmed that the current key ecb interest rates still remain appropriate. it therefore decided to leave them unchanged. taking into account all the new information and analyses which have become available since our meeting on 2 december 2010, we see evidence of short - term upward pressure on overall inflation, mainly owing to energy prices, but this has not so far affected our assessment that price developments will remain in line with price stability over the policy - relevant horizon. at the same time, very close monitoring is warranted. recent economic data are consistent with a positive underlying momentum of economic activity, while uncertainty remains elevated. our monetary analysis indicates that inflationary pressures over the medium term should remain contained. overall, we expect price stability to be maintained over the medium term, thereby supporting the purchasing power of euro area households. inflation expectations remain firmly anchored in line with our aim of keeping inflation rates below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. the firm anchoring of inflation expectations is of the essence. overall, the current monetary policy stance remains accommodative. the stance, the provision of liquidity and the allotment modes will be adjusted as appropriate, taking into account the fact that all the non - standard measures taken during the period of acute financial market tensions are, by construction, temporary in nature. accordingly, the governing council will continue to monitor all developments over the period ahead very closely. let me now explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. following the 0. 3 % quarter - on - quarter increase in euro area