Multymeter.com- Business & Finance : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) sees BRICS membership as an opportunity to develop trade and plans to inject more capital into the New Development Bank (NDB). This was also stated by Economy Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, as quoted by Bloomberg.
Abu Dhabi joined the NBD two years ago and is now among the six new members approved to join the BRICS last week.
As of January 2024, countries such as Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will become full members of the BRICS group of developing countries.
The NDB itself was founded in 2014 by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa with the aim of providing funds for infrastructure and sustainable development projects.
And in 2015, the Bank officially opened its doors, and then the accession countries Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia are also in talks to likely become members. “In fact, we will push for more and ‘in fact’ inject capital into the banks,” the UAE minister said, without elaborating on the amount.
According to Bloomberg, as one of the few countries managing more than $1 trillion in sovereign capital, the UAE represents a “potentially big-money contributor” to the NBD. “OPEC’s third-largest producer could provide more financial power to the BRICS lenders created as a counterweight to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank,” he said.
Al Marri explained that the UAE will continue to develop trade with the West while increasing trade with less developed countries in the Global South. He stressed that membership in BRICS is very important for the UAE. “Joining BRICS will contribute a lot to the UAE’s multilateral support to the world. We focus on our global trade, the UAE has always been a global hub,” he concluded.
According to global data from RBK and TASS, according to analysts, the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of the enlarged BRICS in purchasing power parity terms will be around $65 trillion. This would raise the bloc’s share of global GDP from the current 31.5% to 37%. By comparison, the G7 group of advanced economies currently hovers around 29.9%. ***