The New Development Bank (NDB) announced today that its Board of Directors has approved its first set of loans involving financial assistance of USD 811 million, to be disbursed in tranches, supporting 2,370 MW of renewable energy capacity. The appraised projects were presented at the fifth Board of Directors meeting held in Washington D.C. on the sidelines of the IMF and the World Bank Group Spring Meetings.
Mr. K. V. Kamath, President, said: “This is an important milestone for the Bank and we are delighted to have met the goals and the time schedules envisioned by the leaders of the BRICS countries. With this we embark on a journey to provide speedy assistance to projects across developing nations. We are pleased that the projects deal with green and renewable energy and hope they will act as catalysts for development in our member states.”
In accordance with its core focus, this first set of projects being financed by NDB is in the area of green and renewable energy. It is estimated that the projects will collectively provide additional generation capacity of 2,370 MW of clean energy, leading to reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 4 million tonnes per year. Each loan modality is different based on project specific features and borrower preferences. Government approvals, where necessary, will be sought as part of follow-up procedures.
Background information
The New Development Bank is instituted with a vision to support and foster infrastructure and sustainable development initiatives in emerging economies. The Bank will also complement the efforts of other existing financial institutions to realize the common goal of global growth. The founding members of the NDB – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) – have brought in capital of USD 1 billion as initial contribution. Most of the policies and procedures for all functional areas of the Bank were approved at the Board of Directors meeting in January, 2016. With the signing of the Headquarters Agreement with the Government of the People’s Republic of China and Memorandum of Understanding with Shanghai Municipal People’s Government in February, the Bank has become fully operational.
The Bank has received AAA institutional rating from China Chengxin Credit Rating Co and China Lianhe Credit Rating Co.
SOURCE: THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION