23 projects worth $6 bn in pipeline: BRICS Bank

July 7, 2017, 5:15 am

The BRICS Bank has 23 projects at various stages of preparation for 2017 to 2018, with a total lending amount of $6 billion, NDB President K.V. Kamath said at a press conference on Thursday in Shanghai.

Seven of these projects are in Brazil, six in India, two in Russia, and three in South Africa.

Five projects, totaling $1.7 billion, are in China.

In 2016, the bank granted $1.5 billion in loans to seven projects. Most projects involved green energy or infrastructure, Kamath said.

“The last two years have been very satisfying to us. It has built a strong foundation for the bank,” Kamath said.

The new lender hopes to get rated by international rating companies by the end of the year. According to the NDB, Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs have been chosen to be bank’s advisers for international ratings.

The bank sold its first 3 billion yuan ($437 million) yuan-denominated bonds in China in July last year, to fund clean energy projects in member states.

It plans to issue rupee-denominated bonds this year and will also look for opportunities to issue bonds in Brazil and Russia, Kamath said.

A recent Bloomberg report said emerging-market investors are again piling into the BRICS markets, pushing monthly inflows and stock prices to nearly two-year highs.

Non-resident portfolio flows into BRIC nations rose to $166.5 billion in May, up from $28.3 billion in outflows 12 months prior, according to data compiled by the Institute of International Finance and EPFR Global.

Financing sustainable development and infrastructure projects and local currency financing remain the focus of the New Development Bank launched by the BRICS countries, according to a new policy document for the next five years.

The new lender has said it plans to expand membership gradually.

“NDB signifies developing countries’ coming of age and reflects their aspirations to stand on their own feet,” according to the 2017-2021 strategy document.

BRICS members, China, India and Russia are also the three largest shareholders in the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Both the BRICS Bank and the AIIB will extend China’s financial reach and compete not only with the World Bank, but also with the Asian Development Bank, which is heavily dominated by Japan.

TBP and Agencies