The New Development Bank, or BRICS Bank, will provide a USD 1.115 billion loan to support the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul in the reconstruction of the economy and the infrastructure of the affected municipalities, and for strengthening the state’s productive sector.
The announcement was made by the bank’s president, Dilma Rousseff, who revealed that the investment is flexible and can be tailored to “the urgencies, priorities and needs of the State of Rio Grande do Sul”, that has been affected by mass floodings.
“The BRICS Bank is committed and will work towards the reconstruction and recovery of the state’s infrastructure. We want to help people rebuild their lives. We will allocate resources as quickly as possible,” she said.
Former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff to lead BRICS bank
The investments will be disbursed alongside Brasil’s BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social/National Bank for Economic and Social Development), Banco do Brasil (Bank of Brasil), and BRDE (Banco Regional de Desenvolvimento do Extremo Sul/Regional Bank for the Development of the Far South) for projects towards environmental protection; infrastructure; water and basic sanitation; disaster prevention; agricultural infrastructure, storage and logistics infrastructure; urban development and mobility; and water resources.
“The people of Rio Grande do Sul can count on me and on the BRICS Bank at this very difficult moment. I am sure that, through the strength of the people of Rio Grande do Sul and the solidarity of the Brazilian people and the international community, this crisis will be overcome. We must take all measures so that this does not happen again,” highlighted Dilma Rousseff in a video published on social media.
The NBD, or BRICS Bank, is one of 10 of the multilateral financial development institutions that launched in April a set of joint measures to improve performance as a system, and to increase the impact and scale of its work in addressing urgent challenges. The measures are aligned with the Brazilian G20 presidency priorities discussed in the Finance Track’s working group on International Financial Architecture.
In a document, the leaders committed to make concrete actions in five critical areas, with emphasis on joint action to combat climate change in the fields of adaptation and mitigation, climate funding, support to and improvement of natural catastrophe early warning systems.
