First BRICS Bank head to take charge within 10 days
May 14, 2015, 12:06 pm

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) with his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma and Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) at the 5th BRICS Summit on 27 March 2013 in Durban, South Africa [PPIO]

“Kamath will resign from various boards and join the BRICS Bank in next 10 days,” said the Indian Finance Secretary, Rajiv Mehrishi, in New Delhi.

Ahead of the 7th BRICS Summit in Russia, the Indian government on Monday announced the appointment of Indian banker Kundapur Vaman Kamath as president of the Bank.

Officials from the BRICS countries are keen on speeding up formation of the development bank amid concerns over the pace of the global economic recovery.

The New Development Bank will provide a financing alternative to the World Bank, where the five large emerging markets have sought more clout.

BRICS also decided to establish a $100 billion currency exchange reserve in the leaders summit in Brazil last year.

The Bank will have its headquarters in China with India holding its first rotating presidency.

“The advanced countries haven’t managed a consistent recovery and international trade isn’t growing enough to stimulate emerging markets,” Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said during a meet of the five leaders in Brisbane last year. “Advanced economies need to boost their internal demand to pre-crisis levels instead of trying to solve their problems by increasing their exports.”

The total volume of capital in the development bank and currency reserves would enable the group to get joint mechanisms that can stabilize national capital markets in case of a world economic crisis, asserted Russian President Vladimir Putin during the meet in November.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will become the bank’s first Chairman of the Board of Governors, while the first chairperson of the Board of Directors will be Brazilian. South Africa will establish an African regional center for the bank.

TBP