Moscow, Oct 16 (IANS) The BRICS nations have overtaken G7 states in terms of the purchasing power parity (PPP) of their populations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday in an interview.

“As for BRICS, at the time of the summit in Johannesburg [in August], the ratio of the economies of the G7 countries and the BRICS countries was already in favor of BRICS in terms of purchasing power parity,” Putin said.

BRICS currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, but the group will be joined in January by Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

The G7 club of industrialised and developed countries consists of the US, Canada, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan.

Putin said that the BRICS expansion will prove beneficial to the group, which has historically positioned itself as an alternative to Western-dominated international institutions, RT reported.

The Russian leader further said that the move clearly reflects the ongoing formation of a new multipolar world.

“This means that every country joining BRICS supports the idea and concept of forming a multipolar world, as none wants to be on the sidelines of a ruler, seeking equal relations,” he said.

Earlier this year, UK-based economic research firm Acorn Macro Consulting reported that BRICS member nations had surpassed the G7 in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) based on PPP.

According to the analysts, the five BRICS nations accounted for nearly 31.5 per cent of global GDP, compared to 30.7 per cent for the G7, RT reported.