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South African President Jacob Zuma at the WEF Africa, at Cape Town, South Africa on 4th June 2015
Parliamentary committees have approved enabling legislation
The legislative process to authorise South Africa’s participation in the $100 billion BRICS Bank or New Development Bank is under way, Treasury Director General Lungisa Fuzile told The BRICS Post at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town on Thursday.
“The relevant Parliamentary committees approved the enabling legislation this week and in due course it will be passed by the National Assembly, but that is a legislative process. We expect it to be passed this month in line with President Jacob Zuma’s promise, but that is a process that is not in the hands of the Treasury,” Fuzile said.
The new lender will start naming its investments in the first quarter of 2016.
Fuzile confirmed the Bank’s African regional office would be located in Johannesburg
“As to staffing, we will take our lead from the Shanghai headquarters, but we expect it to be operational before the end of this year,” he added.
The headquarters of the BRICS Bank will be located in Shanghai.
Ahead of the 7th BRICS Summit in Ufa, Russia, the Indian government in May announced the appointment of Indian banker Kundapur Vaman Kamath as president of the Bank.
The BRICS, in spite of a burgeoning share in global trade and commerce, have little influence in international financial institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund or the Asian Development Bank.
BRICS launched the $100 billion development bank and a currency reserve pool in July last year in their first concrete step toward reshaping the Western-dominated international financial system.
BRICS business leaders will gather in Russia on 18 June to debate trade opportunities and new investments in these countries even as growth slows in the US and the Eurozone.
Helmo Preuss in Cape Town for The BRICS Post
