5th Annual Meeting of NDB

• 21 Apr 2020

Why in News

Recently, the Union Minister of Finance attended the 5^th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of New Development Bank (NDB) through video-conference in New Delhi.

Key Highlights of the Meeting

• India appreciated NDB’s efforts in establishing itself as a credible Global Financial Institution, delivering its mandate successfully by taking a more sustainable and inclusive approach.
• NDB fast-tracked financial assistance of about $5 billion to BRICS countries including Emergency Assistance of $1 billion to India to combat Covid-19 pandemic.
  
  • The assistance under this facility was suggested to be enhanced to $10 billion.
• Brazil thanked India for sending critical drugs for timely management of novel coronavirus in Brazil.
• NDB was encouraged to take appropriate actions to join the G-20 forum along with other Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), etc.
• India urged NDB to follow novel practices in supporting the BRICS nations for achieving their Sustainable Development Goals.
• Measures taken by India to respond to the health crisis and to mitigate its impact were highlighted. Few of them are:
  
  • India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package: Allocation of $2 Billion (₹15,000 crore) by the Government of India for strengthening the healthcare system.
  • Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana: Announcement of a scheme of social support measures amounting to $23 Billion (₹1.70 lakh crore) to alleviate the hardship of the poor and the vulnerable.
  • Insurance cover of $67,000 (₹50 lakh) per person to over 2.2 million frontline health workers and others provision of relief to firms in statutory and regulatory compliance matters
  • Easing of monetary policy by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and three-month moratorium on loan instalments.
  • Creation of a Covid-19 Emergency Fund for SAARC countries.
  • India’s efforts in supplying critical medicine to the countries in need (e.g. Operation Sanjeevani), to tackle the Covid-19.

New Development Bank

• It is a multilateral development bank jointly founded by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) at the 6^th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil in 2014.
• It was formed to support infrastructure and sustainable development efforts in BRICS and other underserved, emerging economies for faster development through innovation and cutting-edge technology.
• It is headquartered at Shanghai, China.
• In 2018, the NDB received observer status in the United Nations General Assembly, establishing a firm basis for active and fruitful cooperation with the UN.
• Objectives:
  
  • Fostering development of member countries.
  • Supporting economic growth.
  • Promoting competitiveness and facilitating job creation.
  • Building a knowledge sharing platform among developing countries.
• To fulfill its purpose, the Bank supports public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments.
• NDB has so far approved 14 projects in India for an amount of $4,183 million.

Source: PIB