BRICS New Development Bank issues bonds to fight COVID-19

SHANGHAI, June 24 (Xinhua) -- BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) has issued bonds in international capital markets for the first time to raise money to fight COVID-19, and is expected to issue bonds in China in the final quarter of 2020, according to Leslie Maasdorp, NDB vice president and chief financial officer.

The bank's bond issuance in international markets was a 1.5-billion-U.S. dollar, three-year COVID-19 response bond, Maasdorp said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua. The net proceeds from the bond will be used to finance sustainable development activities in its member countries, including emergency assistance loans to the bank's member countries.

Maasdorp said such emergency loans could be used to finance direct expenses related to the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak as well as provide support to governmental measures contributing to economic recovery in the member countries of the NDB.

"This bond issue is strategically important in addressing the economic and social challenges that our member states are facing in their fight against the COVID-19 outbreak," Maasdorp added.

"The pandemic posts challenges to our work, but we adjusted our pattern to work and operated normally with the help of cloud," Maassdorp said, adding that the construction of the bank's headquarters currently underway in Shanghai is on schedule.

"We support the local currency of our member countries and have good confidence in the depth and liquidity of the RMB," Maassdorp said.

The Shanghai-based bank earlier disbursed emergency assistance program loans to China and India to fight COVID-19.

The NDB, which was established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, formally opened in July 2015.