Daily Times

XIAMEN: The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) is interested in lending to technological innovation projects, the bank’s vice president Zhu Xian said Saturday at a financing forum held in east Chinese city of Xiamen.

Established to meet emerging economies’ funding needs, the multilateral lender approved loans worth 1.5 billion US dollars last year, mainly to finance clean energy and infrastructure developments in BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

The BRICS share of the world economy shot up from 8.2 percent in 2002 to
22.2 percent in 2015. The BRICS now represents two thirds of the developing world’s economy.

Zhu said the bank aims to foster technological innovation in developing nations through its financing, capability building, and knowledge sharing. He said such lending priority will set the bank on a new path different from the one taken by traditional multilateral financial institutions.

The developing nations account for more than 35 percent of the world economy, but lacks an equal share of deciding power in traditional multilateral lenders, Zhu said. Trillions of dollar is needed every year as the developing world strives to upgrade industries and develop new energy sector. “That will be the priority of BRICS NDB and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB),” Zhu said.

He said China has accumulated rich experience in technological innovation on infrastructure projects and is open to share such experience with other developing nations. “We will frame the BRICS NDB as a knowledge bank, through its project financing and knowledge sharing,” Zhu said. The BRICS NDB was established in 2014 with an initial fund of 100 billion US dollars pooled from five BRICS countries. The bank was launched in Shanghai in July 2015 and issued its first loan in April 2016.