Growing impact of BRIC nations

A panel of HSBC experts on the emerging markets convened in Miami on 27 February and again in Santa Monica, California, on 1 March to discuss the transformative impact of the BRIC nations on the global economy. The occasion: the HSBC Global Forum.

suggest that the BRIC countries are likely to trigger a major shift in the world's centre of economic gravity."

The panelists included Clare Hammond, HSBC Group Special Advisor - China and Head of China Strategic Development, HSBC Holdings plc; Grant Felgenhauer, Investment Director and General Counsel, Hermitage Capital Management; Pedro Bastos, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Investments Brazil; and, in Santa Monica, Joel Kurtzman, Senior Fellow, Milken Institute.

"Russian growth in particular is driven by world demand for oil," Grant Felgenhauer said, "which means that to understand the investment case for Russia you need to understand oil."

Clare Hammond commented: "In China, the big challenge is whether the benefits of urban middle class life can be extended to a much greater segment of the population over the next 20 years."

"Brazil, meanwhile, is not likely to return to the days of 8 percent growth, according to Pedro Bastos. "But the last 12 years of economic and institutional reform have brought us to a point where we can grow at 3.5-to-4.5 percent on a sustainable basis," he said.