Risk consultancy Maplecroft said its Global Risk Atlas, which highlights potentially destabilising factors in the world's key growth economies, found that Brazil, Russia, India and China were no less susceptible to potential security or economic shocks than in previous years.

"With hopes for a global economic recovery resting with the BRICs, investors and business seeking new high-growth, high-risk markets need to be aware of their limited resilience to global risks," said Maplecroft CEO Alyson Warhurst in the report.

"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 is yet to happen."

The term BRIC is used to describe the four biggest developing economies - Brazil, Russia, India and China.

For some of them. governance and reform have not kept pace with economic growth, leaving them vulnerable to potential risks such as terrorism or climate change, the survey found.

According to the report, India and Russia are among 41 countries classified as 'high risk', with poor governance, systemic corruption and terrorism identified as particular risks.

China, meanwhile, is also exposed to security issues, but is classified as 'medium risk' due to the unlikelihood of social or political upheaval on a national scale, the report said.

Brazil, also ranked 'medium risk', is considered the least susceptible to global risks of the four BRICs, due in part to the stability of its political structure and record of strong governance.

(Reporting By Alessandra Prentice. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency