Brics bank opens in SA

The New Development Bank (NDB) will benefit infrastructure projects on the entire African continent and the developing world, and having a permanent regional centre showed a commitment to that undertaking, President Jacob Zuma, pictured, said yesterday.

Speaking at the launch of the African Regional Centre of the NDB in Sandton, Johannesburg, the president said: “The bank is working on expanding its membership to other countries beyond Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA). We certainly trust that African countries will be among the first to take up membership.”

The bank, through the Africa Regional Centre, would contribute to accelerating infrastructure investment in energy, transport, water and other productive sectors.

The NDB was first mooted at the fourth Brics Summit in New Delhi in 2012 by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA to mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects.

It was set up with authorised capital of $100 billion, with the initial subscribed capital of $50 billion equally shared among founding members.

In 2015, the NDB was launched with the opening of the head office in Shanghai, China. Last year it issued its first set of loans amounting to $1.5 billion (about R20 billionn) to fund renewable energy projects in member countries.

Zuma said he was very pleased at the progress made. “The bank’s very first green bond issuance in the Chinese capital market, mobilising about $450 million, is also noteworthy. And most recently, the approval of a general strategy to guide its operations in the next five years demonstrates that we are on the right path.”

The bank’s next mission would be to consider new members and finalise the project pipeline for the second batch of loans in the 2017-18 financial year. Its lending would increase to $2.5 billion in the 2017/2018 financial year.

“This announcement has come at an opportune time for SA as we need more projects.” – ANA