BRICS PUSHES NDB TO SCALE LOCAL-CURRENCY FINANCING AFTER $43 BILLION IN FIRST-DECADE APPROVALS

BRICS leaders have called on the New Development Bank (NDB) to scale up local-currency financing and mobilise more resources for infrastructure and sustainable development, as the bloc seeks to deepen its financial architecture after the lender approved $43 billion worth of projects in its first decade.

The New Delhi Declaration adopted at the BRICS Summit said members want the NDB to expand its capacity to mobilise resources, increase local-currency financing, diversify funding sources and support projects that advance sustainable development, reduce inequality and strengthen infrastructure investment and economic integration.

The New Delhi Declaration suggests BRICS wants NDB to play a bigger role not only as a lender but also as a vehicle for developing alternative financing channels for emerging economies.

The New Development Bank (NDB) is a Shanghai-headquartered multilateral development bank established in 2015 by BRICS economies to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging market economies.

The declaration also backed further expansion of the bank’s membership and called for quicker consideration of applications from interested BRICS countries.

The push comes as the BRICS-backed lender enters its second decade with a significantly larger balance sheet, but with dollar financing still accounting for the majority of its project portfolio.

By December 31, 2025, NDB had cumulatively approved $43 billion for 139 projects on a gross basis since its establishment. After excluding financing that was subsequently cancelled and loans that had already been fully repaid, its active portfolio comprised 115 projects with financing of $35.6 billion.

NDB had cumulatively disbursed $24.2 billion by the end of 2025, while cumulative repayments stood at $2.5 billion, leaving outstanding disbursements of about $21.7 billion.

Local-currency lending gathers pace

Local-currency financing has emerged as a central part of NDB’s strategy as the bank looks to reduce borrowers’ exposure to exchange-rate volatility and support domestic capital markets.

At the end of 2025, financing denominated in the currencies of borrowing members accounted for 29.3 percent of the bank’s portfolio, equivalent to about $10.4 billion.

Renminbi financing dominated the local-currency portfolio at $7.67 billion, followed by rand-denominated financing of about $2.43 billion and rupee-denominated financing of just $347 million. The remaining portfolio included $21.19 billion in US dollars, $3.34 billion in euros and $630 million in Swiss francs.

The currency composition also varies sharply across countries. Nearly three-fourths of NDB financing to projects in China was denominated in renminbi, while around 38 percent of financing to South African clients was in rand. The bank has also begun providing RMB loans outside China, with 10.6 percent of its financing to projects in Brazil denominated in the Chinese currency.

NDB approved its first-ever rupee-denominated loan and its second rupee-denominated equity investment last year.

Record local-currency share in 2025

NDB approved $3.17 billion of financing across 19 projects in 2025, with local-currency financing accounting for a record 45.9 percent of annual approvals. Climate finance also reached a record 57.1 percent of approvals during the year.

In 2025, the bank raised the equivalent of $6.6 billion in medium- and long-term funding across international capital markets, China’s domestic bond market and loan markets.

It raised RMB 25 billion through five panda-bond issuances during the year and also executed a $1.5-billion club loan facility.

2026-09-12T13:10:26Z