African Regional Center of the BRICS bank launched in South Africa

The African Regional Center of the New Development Bank (NDB) – formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank – has been launched today, August 17, in Johannesburg by South African President Jacob Zuma.

The African Regional Center will allow countries on the continent to have access to the bank.
The launch of the African Regional Center will showcase the NDB’s service offering, highlighting the institutions’ potential role in the area of infrastructure and sustainable development in emerging and developing countries.

The NDB is an institution to solve the infrastructural development and funding problems for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) member states and developing countries particularly in Africa.

The institution was set established by the BRICS states in 2014 as an alternative to to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to boost infrastructure funding in the emerging economies and offer them tailor-made services.
The NDB unlike the World Bank and IMF will offer solutions without ‘strings attached.’

The BRICS increasing projection of influence in Africa is re-configuring global geopolitics, aiding south-south cooperation, which seeks to achieve greater autonomy from the west. BRICS members China and India have strong economic and trade ties with the African continent.
Africa – China trade, for instance, grew from US$10 billion in 2000 to US$220 billion in 2014.

The NDB is headquartered in Shanghai, China. The African Regional Center is the institutions’ first regional office.
The NDB is set to establish more regional centers that will perform the important function of identifying and preparing proposals for viable projects that the bank could fund in the respective regions globally.