South Africa can expect a windfall from this week's Brics summit as China prepares to ramp up investments to bolster its position as the country's largest trading partner. Ahead of the summit, President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Tuesday host Chinese President Xi Jinping in what is likely to be South Africa's most important foreign policy and investment week since he took office in February. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also expected at the summit. The Brics nations are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and together they comprise 40% of the world's population and a growing proportion of world trade. By the end of 2017 the collective size of the four largest of the bloc's economies was valued at $19-trillion (about R256-trillion). Brazil, Russia and South Africa are in low economic growth troughs but with China and India powering ahead, the bloc is expected to overtake the Group of Seven (G7) by size of economy by 2035, according to Jim O'Neill, the former Goldman Sac...

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