BRICS Leaders Close To Setting Up Dev Bank

The leaders of five of the world’s top emerging economies moved closer toward establishing a development bank that could one day serve as an alternative to the World Bank.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — collectively known as the BRICS — “agreed to examine in greater detail a proposal to set up a BRICS-led South-South Development Bank, funded and managed by the BRICS and other developing countries,” said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India.

The leaders were meeting in New Delhi on Thursday for their fourth annual summit. Finance ministers from the five countries have been directed to look into the idea of the development bank and report back at the next summit, Singh said.

The leaders also asked the International Monetary Fund to speed up changes in its governance to better represent the developing world as a voting bloc, CNN reports.

“The rapid recovery of the BRICS economies from the financial crisis highlighted their role as growth drivers of the global economy,” Singh said.

Together, the BRICS nations make up more than 40% of the world population and one-fifth of the global economy.