BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) has great development potential and will turn into an important financial institution for emerging markets and developing countries, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing the lender's head, former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
"We’ll [NDB] transform ourselves into an important bank for developing countries and emerging markets," the newspaper reported, quoting Rousseff as saying.
She added that the lender's focus is to become "a bank made by developing countries for themselves."
The Shanghai-based bank was established in 2014 by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and was later joined by Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Uruguay is currently in the process of joining the NDB.
The bank's goal is to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging markets and developing countries.
The BRICS group of major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - will hold a summit in Johannesburg from August 22-24. The summit's agenda includes economic relations, trade infrastructure and the potential switch to a common currency to reduce member states' reliance on the US dollar.