THE New Development Bank (NDB), a multilateral bank representing member countries of BRICS, is advocating for de-dollarization by using local currencies in transactions to lessen reliance on the U.S. dollar in international trade and finance.
During the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, high interest rates became a hot topic.
In an interview with CGTN on the sidelines of the meeting, Vladimir Kazbekov, Vice President and COO of the New Development Bank, revealed NDB’s efforts to decrease dependence on the dollar through the use of the Chinese currency.
“China provided for International New Development Bank special rights or special conditions. Now we can use CNY abroad, and finance projects we’ve seen by outside China directly. Now we’re considering first projects of that type in member countries like Brazil. And now we can swap CNY without any limit to USD or any other currency. And we [are] also considering direct swap from CNY to other member countries’ currencies,”
Vladimir Kazbekov, Vice President and COO, New Development Bank stated.
According to Kazbekov, de-dollarization is a significant challenge, but with the support of member countries in using their local currencies, it has been successfully managed.
“It’s a very interesting period, challenging, but we see the new opportunities for NDB because we have quite I should say effective member countries ready to support the institution. We feel it every day in China, India, Brazil, Russia, and in South Africa, and in the Emirates, they are very effectively ready to support and to [gain] entrance to the financial market,” Kazbekov added.
The NDB was formally opened in July 2015 and was established by BRICS member countries, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
In 2021, the NDB announced its expansion by accepting Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay as new member countries.
