BRICS bank plans $2.5bn in loans for emerging economies in 2017

The BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) is to allocate $2.5 billion in loans to member states next year. In 2016 the bank provided over $1.5 billion in financial assistance.

Headquartered in Shanghai, the BRICS bank was founded in 2014 by China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa and officially opened for business a year later. The goal of the bank, with an initial authorized capital of $100 billion, is to fund sustainable development infrastructure projects in emerging economies.

“The bank is currently working to increase the financing volume for projects in member countries of the NDB," said the president of the bank Kundapur Kamath.

According to NDB, two loans together worth $650 million will be provided for projects in China and India.

A sovereign project loan of $300 million has been approved for the Putian Pinghai Bay offshore wind power project in China’s Fujian Province. The power plant is expected to generate 873 million kWh of electricity annually and help curb 869,900 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Another short-term loan of $350 million will be provided for India to upgrade approximately 1,500 km of district roads.

In April, NDB approved its first package of loans worth some $811 million for renewable energy projects. It decided to allocate $300 million to Brazil, $81 million to China, $250 million to India and $180 million to South Africa.

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According to bank estimates, renewable energy projects with a combined capacity of 2.37MW could help reduce harmful emissions by four million tons annually.

In Russia, the NDB has financed the construction of two small hydroelectric power stations at the cost of $185 million.