Discussed: Benefits of Egypt's joining BRICS's New Development Bank

CAIRO - 2 February 2023: The Parliament approved an agreement that allows Egypt to join BRICS group's New Development Bank, which comes as a significant addition that supports development plans and priorities of the country, and enhance Egypt's ability to achieve its economic, political and social objectives.

 

In this regard, Egypt Today reviews benefits of Egypt's joining of the agreement in light of the parliamentary report of the Economic Affairs Committee:

 

1- The New Development Bank works to support sustainable development and enhance regional cooperation and integration by investing mainly in the field of infrastructure, which includes various sub-sectors in infrastructure such as: energy, transportation, water, and communications.

 

2- The bank's operations include the health and social infrastructure sectors, and the bank's activity extends to the field of digitization due to the negative economic effects resulting from the Corona pandemic (Covid 19) on the global economy.

 

3- With regard to environmental, social and procurement standards, the New Development Bank uses the national standards of the operating countries only. The New Development Bank aims to provide the necessary resources and provide technical assistance for the implementation of projects related to the national development priorities of the member states.

 

The bank was established in 2015 with a capital of 50 billion US dollars, of which 20 percent is paid, which is equivalent to 10 billion US dollars, by the countries of the BRICS grouping that includes the major emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

 

The bank is headquartered in Shanghai, China, and the role and representation of this bank reflects the priorities of emerging and developing countries. The capital will be increased by the new members by about $50 billion, bringing the total subscribed capital to $1 billion.

 

With regard to environmental, social and procurement standards, the New Development Bank uses national standards for the countries of operation only, and the Bank focuses on implementing projects related to the national development priorities of the member countries. This is expected to change with the gradual expansion of membership and the desire of the New Development Bank management and members of the Board of Directors to adopt more strategies international

 

Since 2022, the New Development Bank's portfolio included 80 projects, with a total value of $30 billion. Membership in the New Development Bank is still limited to BRICS countries, as the Bank followed a slow approach in the process of expanding its membership due to the different opinions among member states about How to manage the expansion process.