Argentina to join BRICS bank?

Argentina to join BRICS bank?

Argentine Economy Minister Sergio Massa was told in Shanghai by New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff that the road was clear for Argentina to join the entity and thus be able to obtain some financial backing in the near future, it was reported. The formal announcement will be made next August alongside those concerning Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Zimbabwe.

“Sergio, I have good news, I found the shortcut. The board of directors has agreed to add Argentina to the bank. It will be announced at the August meeting in South Africa,” Rousseff reportedly told Massa at the bank’s headquarters in Pudon, the skyscraper district of Shanghai. “It is the fastest way, to go straight to August,” Rousseff went on.

In order to become a member of this bank, the four new members are required to contribute US$ 1 billion. Argentina will have to disburse US$ 250 million, which will be integrated with sovereign debt bonds in dollars.

The meeting was Massa’s last activity in Shanghai, before traveling to Beijing where he will hold encounters with Chinese government authorities to negotiate the renewal of various swaps with which to intervene in the local foreign exchange market and keep the US dollar from soaring against the Argentine peso.

As for the BRICS bank, financing for Argentina would stem from a capital increase that Brazil will provide. The bank has already authorized similar operations between South Africa and several African countries and also to India, which has helped Bangladesh in this way.