BRICS launch development bank and joint monetary fund
At a summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, BRICS countries launched a slew of initiatives, including two new international financial institutions: A new development bank and a joint monetary fund.
The leaders of five of the world's most populous and powerful emerging countries met this week in the northeastern Brazilian city of Fortaleza to seal deals that could mark an important step in the growth of their global economic power.
On stage at the city's Ceara convention center, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff sat in the middle, surrounded by her four counterparts, Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's Xi Jinping, Jacob Zuma from South Africa, and India's Narendra Modi. The leaders seemed well pleased with themselves as they looked down into the plenary crowd.
"We're helping to democratize international relations," enthused China's President Xi, adding that all five BRICS countries were "countries of the future" that would enrich the international community with their positive energy and initiatives.
The leaders were not stingy with praise for their meeting's achievements. They celebrated the founding of the BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) as a "historic moment" and the "growing prestige" of the group, and proclaimed a "new era of global power structures."
The BRICS' agreement on how to fund the new development bank, which will be based in Shanghai, consciously set a counterpoint to the old power structures of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Each of the five BRICS countries will contribute an equal $10 billion share to the NDB's $50 billion capital base, despite big differences in the countries' population sizes and economic weights.
"At the World Bank, the US has a veto. In the BRICS' New Development Bank, all shareholders are equal," said Brazil's finance minister Guido Manteiga. He added that the presidency of the NDB will not be the prerogative of a particular continent; instead, it will change every five years, rotating among the BRICS countries. The first president of the NDB is to come from India.
