05RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Environment Minister Ricardo Salles is negotiating a US$500 million (R$2 billion) loan with the New Development Bank (NDB) to be transferred to the country’s municipal governments for sanitation, waste treatment, and renewable energy. The investment should happen early next year.
“The task now is to study the best way how to implement the funds immediately, whether it will be a transfer to municipal associations, individual municipalities or to build waste disposal structures made by the federal government in partnership with the municipalities,” the minister explained.
Salles attended a meeting this week in São Paulo with environment ministers from the group of developing countries formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS).
In 2014, the BRICS countries announced the creation of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA).
The initial authorized capital of the bank is US$100 billion divided into one million shares having a par value of $100,000 each.
BRICS governments have promoted the NDB as an alternative to the World Bank and the CRA as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund, both of which have traditionally been controlled by the United States, Europe, and Japan.
The stated focus of the NDB is to finance infrastructure and sustainable development in emerging market and developing countries.
The bank is headquartered in Shanghai, China. The first regional office of the NDB is in Johannesburg, South Africa.