Fortaleza, Brazil: BRICS 2014: BRICS Development Bank launched with India as president and Russia as chairman. BRICS Development Bank (also known as New Development Bank) has been launched to counter the influence of Western-based lending institutions and the dollar, reports Brazilian television channels. The new bank will provide money for infrastructure and development projects in BRICS countries. Leaders from the five nations – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narenda Modi, and South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, were present at the inaugural ceremony at Fortaleza.
“Each BRICS member is expected to put an equal share into establishing the startup capital of $50 billion with a goal to reach $100 billion. The BRICS bank will be headquartered in Shanghai. India will preside as president for the first year while Russia will be the chairman of the representatives. Each country will send either their finance minister or Central Bank chair to the bank’s representative board. Membership may not just be limited to just BRICS nations, either. Future members could include countries in other emerging markets blocs, such as Mexico, Indonesia, or Argentina, once it sorts out its debt burden”, reported RT Russia.
BRICS represents 42 percent of the world’s population and roughly 20 percent of the world’s economy based on GDP, and 30 percent of the world’s GDP based on PPP, a more accurate reading of the real economy. Total trade between the countries is $6.14 trillion, or nearly 17 percent of the world’s total.
