Barry Eichengreen, "Banking on the BRICS" is - theoretically - not a bad idea! The five member states – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – account for more than 40 percent of the world's population, almost 20 percent of the world's total GDP and 17 percent of global trade. Despite slower growth in recent months, they still make a notable contribution to the global economy.

The New Development Bank (NDB) that BRICS created last month in Brazil couldn't have been more appropriate to mark the 70th anniversary of Bretton Woods Conference, which created institutions like the IMF and the World Bank. The NDB will be a new challenger to IMF and the World Bank and the ranks of other similar regionally focused agencies. Its main goal would be to mobilise resources for infrastructural and development projects in BRICS as well as other emerging economies and developing countries. The NDB would bring resources into this important area. Even the World Bank acknowledges that more is needed. There's a gap between what is available and what is needed. The gap is estimated at $1 trillion in low and middle-income countries, and the demand for infrastructure continues to grow as countries develop.

That the BRICS nations - which often see each other more as rivals than friends - could agree on a development bank ought to be seen as a wake-up call for the US Congress. The BRICS leaders have complained about unfair treatment for years. American administrations pushed to give them greater voices and votes. But European countries haggled and the Congress couldn't pass legislation to modernise and reform the IMF, which would give emerging countries a greater say.

Despite their political and economic differences, the one thing the BRICS countries do share is an anti-Western, anti-dollar sentiments. What they also agree upon is that rich countries have too much power in institutions like the IMF (whose head is appointed by Europeans) and the World Bank (which is always led by an American). Brics nations have criticised the World Bank and the IMF for not giving developing nations enough voting rights.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said the BRICS nations had the power to introduce positive changes - equality and fairness. Their message is that they want a new world order, by creating clubs of their own to counter the existing system.

The Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA) - " an alternative to the IMF" - is an emergency reserve fund, which will help developing nations avoid short-term liquidity pressures, promote further BRICS cooperation, strengthen the global financial safety net and complement existing international arrangements. Mr Eichengreen says "it will be remembered" as "empty symbolism", perhaps it has less chance to sustain as an institution.

