IANS/RIA Novosti | 21 Feb, 2012

The BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China are still no better placed to withstand shocks from major economic risk events than they were four years ago, Maplecroft risk analysis firm said in its report Monday.

Investors and business, seeking new high-growth and high-risk markets, need to be aware of their limited resilience to global risks, Maplecroft said in its Global Risks Atlas 2012.

"A country's resilience to external and internal shocks is built up over time, so as the BRICs political risk environment improves we might see resilience strengthen but our results reveal this has yet to happen," Maplecroft CEO Alyson Warhurst was quoted in the report as saying in Moscow.

The company's experts placed Russia in a group of 41 countries with a high level of risk and identify poor governance, corruption and terrorism, as major risks.

"Terrorism and political violence (in Russia) ... threaten human security and business continuity, while diverting valuable government resources and money," the firm also said.

The Global Risks Atlas highlights potentially destabilizing factors in the world's key growth economies. Maplecroft classifies global risks as those that cut across borders, affecting multiple areas of the world with major impacts on countries and business alike. The Atlas covers 178 countries and includes 33 indices within five global risk areas.