BRICs helped by Western finance crisis: Goldman

By Guy Faulconbridge

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - The Western financial crisis means the fast-growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China will grow their share of the world economy even faster than originally forecast, the founder of the four-nation BRIC concept told Reuters.

The term BRIC was coined by Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs to describe how the four rising economies are likely to rival and overtake many of the West's leading economies over the next half century.

Jim O'Neill, the Goldman Sachs economist who originated the term in 2003, said the financial crisis that began in U.S. mortgage security markets was allowing the BRIC countries to take a bigger share of world gross domestic product.

"On a relative basis it definitely allows the BRICs to develop faster as they are going to take an even bigger share of GDP sooner," O'Neill told Reuters in an interview at an economic forum in Russia's former imperial capital of St Petersburg.

"This is a financial crisis of the West and we must not forget that of the world's 6 billion people most of them are not affected by this," he said. "I was in India four weeks ago and there were no signs of India being affected by all of this."

O'Neill, head of global economic research at Goldman, said China, India and Russia were actually growing faster than originally predicted by his research.

"Of the four BRICs, Russia, China and India have all grown on average 2 percent more than we suggested," he said. "It is a hell of a lot so they are now collectively 16 percent of global GDP so it is all happening a lot quicker."

The four BRIC countries have been seeking to form a political club to convert their growing economic power into greater geopolitical clout.