Never mind the bumpy start, BRICS bank eyes big future
Sino-Indian border dispute and economic downturn just short-term factors that won’t affect the big picture, NDB finance chief says
The so-called BRICS bank is looking beyond short-term economic and political turbulence to boost staff numbers and expand lending, a bank executive said on Monday, playing down concerns about a stalled project in South Africa.
Since opening for business two years ago, the Shanghai-based New Development Bank (NDB) has approved a combined US$2.9 billion in financing but last year the South African government put the bank’s first and only project in the country on hold – a US$180 million renewable energy project with power supplier Eskom.
On the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Xiamen on Sunday, NDB vice-president and chief financial officer Leslie Maasdorp said the Eskom project was suspended because demand for electricity had fallen amid an economic slowdown and South Africa did not need new power supplies.
But Maasdorp said the bank was “developing a strong pipeline in South Africa” and its exposure in Africa would grow.
The NDB has said it plans to lend US$1.5 billion to the country by end of the next year.
The multilateral lender was set up in 2015 with each of the five BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – contributing US$10 billion. It is the bloc’s biggest institutional achievement and plans to grant US$2.5 billion in loans this year after issuing US$1.5 billion in 2016.