Egypt’s membership in the BRICS economic bloc was officially activated on Monday, January 1, 2023, as Russia assumed leadership of the group, which now comprises 10 countries.

The BRICS, an economic platform for emerging markets and developing countries, welcomed its five new members  - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, and Ethiopia in August last year during the group’s summit in South Africa.

The integration of new member states marked a major expansion for the bloc originally founded by Russia, Brazil, China, and India in 2006 and later joined by South Africa in 2011.

Egypt has been facing a severe economic downturn and record inflation, making it difficult for the country to repay its external debts. 

The Egyptian external debt soared by 5.1 percent during the fourth quarter of 2022, reaching US$162.94 billion, a total of US$10 billion more than the previous quarter, according to official figures.

"By joining the BRICS, Egypt is believed to have been trying to alleviate the dominance of the US dollar in the North African country’s economy amid an unforgiving economic crisis triggered by internal and external factors such as the currency devaluation and the Israeli war on the neighboring Palestinian Gaza Strip," financial analyst Ahmed Hamouda told The New Arab.