BRICS bank launched in China NDB seen as a counterbalance to the West Sibonelo Radebe, The New Age, Johannesburg, 22 July 2015 The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) yesterday opened the doors to its head office in Shanghai with a promise to complement and not counter existing multilateral funding institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The focus will now shift to South Africa which must establish an NDB regional office. Authorities have promised that the office will be up and running in the near future. The NDB is expected to issue its first loan during the first quarter of next year. Reports coming from Shanghai described the launch ceremony as low key. The launch comes after a marathon finish that saw BRICS member states line up all key developments to finalise form and structure of the bank during the seventh BRICS Summit in Ufa, Russia, early this month. After China claimed the location of the headquarters, high-profile Indian banker Kundapur Vaman Kamath was named president of the bank. "Our objective is not to challenge the existing system as it is but to improve and complement the system in our own way," Kamath said during the launch yesterday. He said that after a meeting with Asian Investment Infrastructure Bank (AIIB) in Beijing, the NDB had decided to set up a "hotline" with the AIIB to discuss issues and to forge closer ties between "new institutions coming together with a completely different approach". The NDB is styled to focus on infrastructure development projects in BRICS countries but with an ambition to draw in other emerging economies. This ambition is reflected in the decision to establish a regional office in Johannesburg. The office will be styled as a gateway to the African continent, where there is a need for infrastructure development funding. The establishment of the NDB represents a critical milestone for the bloc of five countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - and is seen as a counterbalance to dominant Western politics. It sends a signal that BRICS means business and is not just a talk shop. The NDB has initial capital of $50bn (R620bn), which will be expanded to $100bn in the next few years. Kamath, a former executive with India's largest private bank, ICICI Bank, said earlier this month that the NDB planned to issue its first loans in April next year. China has pledged to contribute $41bn to the NDB, giving it the largest share of voting rights at 39.5%. Brazil, India and Russia will each contribute $18bn, while South Africa will contribute $5bn. South Africa has placed two people in the NDB governance structure. These are former Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni, who serves as BRICS Bank non-executive director, and Leslie Maasdorp who is one of four executive vice-presidents. "The bank provides South Africa with opportunities to leverage its position to gain access to greater capital flows for investment in infrastructure," Maasdorp said. - Reuters and ANA. [email protected] From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/DRIVE/main%20edition/22072015/epaperpdf/15.pdf -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
