BRICS Bank invites new members as Saudi Arabia looks to join

BRICS Bank invites new members as Saudi Arabia looks to join

The New Development Bank, the lender created by the BRICS group of nations, will widen its membership as it seeks to boost its capital and counter the influence of Western-dominated multilat-eral banks.

The lender — formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — will look at increasing the diversity of its members in terms of geography, development stages and on the size of the countries, Dilma Rousseff, the bank’s president, said at its annual meeting in Shanghai on Tuesday.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Saudi Arabia is the latest to discuss joining the bank, the Financial Times has reported, a move that would give the lender more financial muscle. The bank was created in 2014 as a counter-weight to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The bank’s membership is open to any country within the United Nations. Bangladesh and the UAE became members in 2021, while Egypt joined in February. Uruguay is a prospective member, according to the NDB’s website.

Rousseff, Brazil’s former president, said the new members would contribute resources to the bank to support the diversification of its portfolio and increase its capacity to mobilize funds.

“As a former president of