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Moscow / Reuters
The New Development Bank (NDB), formed by the BRICS group of emerging nations, has approved its first loans — $811 million for renewable energy projects in Brazil, China, India and South Africa, Russian news agencies reported last week.
The BRICS bank, with authorised capital of $100 billion, started work last year on funding initiatives for infrastructure projects in emerging markets and in its initial foray has lent $300 million to Brazil, $81 million to China, $250 million to India and $180 million to South Africa, RIA news agency said.
“There are many more new projects in the pipeline including projects from Russia. They are at various stages of consideration and appraisal,†the agency cited the bank’s spokesperson as saying.
NDB, formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to “mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries.
According to the Agreement on the NDB, ‘the Bank shall support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments’. Moreover, the NDB “shall cooperate with international organisations and other financial entities, and provide technical assistance for projects to be supported by the Bank’.
The initial authorised capital of the bank is $100bn divided into 1 million shares having a par value of $100,000 each. The initial subscribed capital of the NDB is $50 billion divided into paid-in shares ($10 billion) and callable shares ($40 billion). The initial subscribed capital of the bank was equally distributed among the founding members. The Agreement on the NDB specifies that the voting power of each member will be equal to the number of its subscribed shares in the capital stock of the bank.
The bank is headquartered in Shanghai, China. The first regional office of the NDB will be opened in Johannesburg, South Africa.