Zuma: BRICS Bank needs to be in Africa
May 10, 2013, 8:53 am

President Zuma says there is an urgent need for the bank to be operational as soon as possible [GCIS]

“Africa is very interested that the bank be in Africa,” said President Zuma.

The South African president was speaking at the opening session of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town.

Leaders of the five BRICS countries agreed in March to establish the Bank and directed their finance ministers to expedite negotiations on size, structure, location and other operational details.

“We have agreed to establish the New Development Bank. The initial capital contribution to the bank should be substantial and sufficient for the bank to be effective in financing infrastructure,” the BRICS leaders said in a joint statement at the Durban Summit.

“Africa feels we need this bank established here because the greater need for the bank is in the continent of Africa,” said Zuma.

In slightly over a decade, the BRICS’ combined GDP has grown from approximately $3 billion to more than $13 billion.

Foreign direct investment into the five nations more than tripled over the past decade to an estimated $263 billion in 2012.

And intra-BRICS trade surged from to $27 billion in 2002 to $282 billion in 2012.

President Zuma has repeatedly emphasised the growing ties between BRICS and the African continent.

“There was an urgent need for the bank to be operational as soon as possible,” Zuma said on Thursday.

The BRICS Development Bank was first proposed by India at last year’s Summit in response to criticism from developing nations that existing multilateral lenders – such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund – are too dominated by Western governments.

The BRICS Post