On 29 September, the Board of Directors of the New Development Bank (NDB), which was set up by the BRICS countries in 2015, held a meeting via videoconference.
The NDB approved the provision of loans for five new projects, including three in Russia, with a total commitment aggregating to approx USD 1.03 billion. “They include the development of sea ports and fleet renewal in order to increase the volume of transhipment, trade and passenger transportation, the construction of 500 kilometres of toll roads, and the modernization of water supply and purification systems in various Russian cities,” noted Vladimir Kazbekov, NDB Vice President. According to him, all these projects have something in common - their preparation was carried out online due to the coronavirus restrictions. “The Bank has shown that it can effectively conduct project work amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Modern cloud IT systems allow us to fully work with clients in all Bank member countries, as well as to attract financing on international capital markets, " V. Kazbekov summed up.
A EUR 100 million loan will be provided to the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) for the development of Russia’s port infrastructure, fleet upgrades and to boost the transhipment, trade and passenger transportation volumes. A USD 100 million loan will go to the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) to finance the construction of toll roads across Russia. According to a press release, this project includes the building of about 500 km of high quality motorways and infrastructure. And the third USD 100 million loan will be granted to the EDB for the modernization of water supply and sanitation systems in Russia.
“Thanks to the approval of its new projects, the Russian part of the NDB portfolio now includes 13 items. The total amount of loans is $3.3 billion. The Bank operations in Russia are planned to grow by another $200-300 million by the end of the year,” Vladimir Kazbekov said. The NDB Eurasian Regional Center now operating in Moscow will also contribute to strengthening its project work in Russia, he added.
The package of projects approved by the NDB also includes two loans to India worth about USD 740 million. The money will be used to finance the construction of a metro line in Mumbai, as well as building a high-speed transport corridor Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut.
As Mr Marcos Troyjo, NDB President noted, “NDB is strongly committed to supporting its member countries in the time of COVID-19, including by providing much needed crisis-related emergency assistance. At the same time, NDB remains fully operational, financing infrastructure and sustainable development projects in line with its mandate and addressing development challenges faced by the Bank’s member countries”.
As of now, the BRICS-established Bank has approved 64 projects worth over USD 20 billion, including four sovereign loans under a programme to help its member countries in their COVID-19 response efforts; Brazil, China, India and South Africa have already received these loans.
The full text of the press release is available on the official website.
This material is based on TASS reports.