NDB planning loans for sustainable infrastructure

The New Development Bank plans to put about two-thirds of its loans into sustainable infrastructure development in the next five years, a senior NDB official said on Tuesday.

Sergio G. Suchodolski, the NDB's director-general of strategy and partnerships, noted the plans, announced recently in its General Strategy for 2017-2021, during his address to the 2017 BRICS Youth Forum in Beijing on Tuesday.

The forum is one of the preparatory events ahead of the ninth BRICS Leaders' Meeting scheduled in Xiamen, Fujian province, in September. There, officials from the emerging nations of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa will join Chinese leaders to discuss issues relevant to members of the association.

"Perhaps one of the most important aspects of the NDB's strategy is its focus on sustainable infrastructure development," Suchodolski said, explaining that would blend well with the "NDB's mandate", he said.

The NDB, he said, intends to approve at least $32 billion in loans, including 15 projects in 2017 and up to 50 in 2021, and the bank will concentrate on sectors such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, urban mobility, sanitation, water and waste management.

Suchodolski said the bank, founded by BRICS countries, intends to open membership to other countries, but is still waiting for approval from the NDB board of directors.

"If this is approved, emerging markets will have no less than 55 percent of the control of NDB governance, but the NDB will become a multilateral financial institution with both developing and developed countries," he said. "This will help increase the role of emerging markets in the formation of global financial rules and order, and we have a number of things to learn from the existing institutions."

Huang Yiyang, a counselor in the Department of International Economic Affairs at China's Foreign Ministry, also addressed the forum, saying that economic, trade and financial cooperation lie as cornerstones of the BRICS organization.

He said China, as the rotating BRICS chair this year, is ready to enhance coordination of macroeconomic and financial policies, which will remain as the focus of BRICS development in the coming decade. He said more support is expected to come in areas of finance, trade and innovation, working toward greater infrastructure connectivity and a wider circulation of currency and finance.