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BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meet in Washington D.C.
18 April 2015
The Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is held in Washington D.C., 16 April 2015EIRNS—The BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors met in Washington before the April 17-19 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, to discuss the progress of bringing the BRICS New Development Bank into operation. According to Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the BRICS representatives agreed to launch the New Development Bank ahead of the 7th BRICS summit, which will take place in Ufa, Russia, in July. Siluanov confirmed that he would chair the bank’s board of governors. This meeting in Washington, D.C., took stock of preparations for the bank, according to a report in yesterday’s BRICSPost. The NBD is to be capitalized at $100 billion. India is to appoint the first president of the Shanghai headquartered bank, and non-BRICS countries will eventually be allowed to join. The BRICS Post notes that plans for the BRICS NDB cohere with plans for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank being sponsored by China. Given the raft of European and as well as Asian and other nations which have joined the AIIB, this puts the NDB forward. Attendees from China at this meeting included Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao, and Deputy Central Bank Governor Yi Gang. Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also conferred with the Chinese officials separately. The BRICS Post reported that the BRICS, representing five of the world’s largest emerging markets, will showcase the BRICS New Development Bank’s new currency reserve fund and development bank at the upcoming BRICS Summit in Russia. Douglas DeGroot |
