CAPE TOWN, April 25 (Reuters) – A joint development bank
planned by the BRICS group of major emerging economies will be
officially launched in South Africa early next year, foreign
minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said on Wednesday.
Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
met last month in New Delhi to discuss setting up the bank,
which would fund infrastructure and act as an alternate lender
to the World Bank and other finance bodies.
“We are looking forward to this historic moment where we
will have an opportunity to launch the BRICS development bank in
the first quarter of the year,” Nkoana-Mashabane told
journalists.
She offered no details on funding.
For years the BRICS countries have demanded more influence
on global financial institutions long controlled by the United
States and Europe.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Jon Herskovitz)
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