BRICS bank to issue loans of up to $40 billion by 2022

The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) will issue bonds in South Africa and commercial paper in US dollars in the first half of this year, according to the bank’s president, K.V. Kamath.

“Most of the work is done and it’s basically finalizing the launch,” he told Xinhua news.

The new bonds in South Africa will be denominated in the local currency and will be placed at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

The bank had already approved 30 projects with combined contract value amounting to US$8 billion and will approve another 20 to 25 projects involving loans of between $7.5 and $8 billion this year, Kamath said.

“By the end of 2021, we will do about 100 projects and the total loan amount could be $35 to $40 billion,” he added.

According to Kamath, nine projects were approved by NDB in China, with loans totaling $2.8 billion so far. The bank also plans to endorse about 10 projects in the country this year.

Last week, the BRICS bank successfully placed 3 billion yuan-denominated bonds (about $448 million) in the China Interbank Bond Market. The bonds were more than three times oversubscribed with more than 20 orders from financial institutions from both China and abroad.

In September, NDB approved three infrastructure and sustainable development projects in India and Russia with loans aggregating $825 million.

The bank said it aims to continue issuing financial products denominated in the local currencies of its member nations – China, Russia, Brazil, India, and South Africa.

The NDB was established in 2014 and formally opened for business a year later. The bank’s capital is up to $100 billion and it says all members of the United Nations can join it. However, BRICS nations can never have less than 55 percent of the voting power.

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