BRICS Bank announces first set of investment
The New Development Bank (NDB), the newly-opened banking institution co-founded by BRICS member countries i.e. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, on Friday announced its first set of investments.
The BRICS’s Board of Directors approved a financial assistance of $811 million to support renewable energy programmes in its member countries. The announced amount, as they said, will be disbursed in trenches.
The new banking institution will lend $300 million to Brazil, $250 million to India, $180 million to South Africa and $81 million to China. The loan amount will support four projects, one each in Brazil, India, South Africa and China.
“Each loan modality is different based on project specific features and borrower preferences. Government approvals, where necessary, will be sought as part of follow-up procedures,” the New Development Bank said a statement.
On Friday, the BRICS’ board of directors, led by President K V Kamath, held their fifth board meeting on the margins of the IMF and the World Bank group meetings in Washington.
“This is an important milestone for the Bank, and we are delighted to have met the goals and the time schedules envisioned by the leaders of the BRICS countries. With this we embark on a journey to provide speedy assistance to projects across developing nations. We are pleased that the projects deal with green and renewable energy and hope they will act as catalysts for development in our member states,” BRICS Bank President K V Kamath said in Washington on Friday.
The Bank, widely seen as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, was formally launched in July last year in China. The five BRICS countries account for over 3 billion people, about 42% of the world’s population. The agenda behind this institution was to finance infrastructure projects across the developing nations.
The NDB was started with an initial capital of 50 billion, with China, of course, being the largest contributor, while the bank had said the amount will be doubled in the next few years.
Last year, India had asked the NDB to support some of its paramount initiatives including Make in India, Skill India and Digital India, stating that the country has stepped on a path of the national renewable mission, thereby opening myriad opportunities in its domestic market.
to success.