BRICS bank to complement, not compete
The mooted BRICS bank of emerging powers is intended to complement, rather than compete with Western-dominated institutions on the world stage, the Indian Finance Minister said yesterday.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram also said India supports Japan's nomination of a senior finance ministry official for the top job at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), as Tokyo looks to keep hold of a role it has held for almost 50 years.
The BRICS bank is seen as a way of challenging the rules set by existing institutions like the World Bank, countering Europe's economic crisis and addressing the $4.5 trillion in infrastructure spending the BRICS are estimated to need over the next five years.
"The BRICS bank will not be a competitor for the World Bank or the ADB. It will complement the World Bank or the ADB," Chidambaram told a news conference in Tokyo during a two-day visit to Japan.
"Why do we need the bank? Because, the funds that are now available through the existing multilateral institutions are insufficient. The World Bank, the ADB, provide funds but (they are) insufficient," he said.
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