One of the major multilateral development finance institutions in this world.” Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the New Development Bank to reporters.
The formation of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) New Development Bank on July 15, 2014 spawned widespread speculation on the future of the world economy. The stated goals of the New Bank are to provide money for infrastructure and development projects.
Created as an alternative to compete with the largely U.S. influenced IMF and World Bank.
Unlike the IMF and World Bank, the BRICS Bank will operate around facilitating fair dealings and equivalent authority in an equal manner between the participating countries, in which each country has one vote, and none of the countries have veto power.
The potential impact China and its partners can have on the global south will be heavily influenced on the strength of each of its members.
The abundance of land the BRICS countries hold will play a critical role on their future influence. Four of the five countries in the BRICS have vast amounts of land suitable for further means of production.
China has been at the forefront of much of these dealings alongside Russia. China has recently been gaining influence in the region and looks to continue those endeavors with the BRICS agreement.
Senior Management Major Brita Preus studied for a semester in China, adding her thoughts to the notion of Chinese expansion.
“Right now China has two very different sides to it. In large cities like Shanghai the movement is towards Westernization, while the countryside is still developing. China is starting to change due to large portions of the populations entering higher education. Due to this, the working force is becoming more educated and the economy has continued to expand. As such, China is gaining more influence in the world,” Preus said
Part of that influence will be catered towards global governance and the issues surrounding reserve currency.
China and Russia have been working towards competing with the U.S. on the reserve currency platform, as seen with their recent trade agreements with Egypt, India, and Pakistan in which transactions are completed in local currencies.
This coincides with the implementation of the Chinese lead AIIB Development Bank has the inklings of a reserve currency confrontation.
The U.S.’s absence from the AIIB members list can inferred as heightened tensions between countries surrounding these dealings.
The addition of another or several reserve currencies could help hedge the effect of one financial crisis from another. This accurately provides an example of how beneficial the New Development Bank can be, not only in its regionalized areas but also around the world.
Junior Economics Major Haiyun Liang native of Guangzhou, China had some words on the topic as well.
“The recent strength of the Chinese currency makes it beneficial in the short term for Russia to partner with China, specifically in regards to the BRICS development bank and AIIB,” Liang said.
Reports have the Chinese Yuan as the 5th most used currency for transactions. This is a jump in recent years. There is also speculation that the value of the Yuan will continue to rise, and eventually find its true value after being artificially repressed by the government.
With China as a leader in the BRICS negotiations along with Russia, it is imperative to understand their rationale. The type of hegemony and power sitting atop an institutional lending partnership provides China a seat at the table with large influencers like the United States.
The BRICS Development Bank with leadership from China allows emerging markets to successfully tap into the resources provided to them to progress forward in the coming decades.
This not only creates more parity in the world economy, but also cultivates a growing sense of change.
The BRICS account for 41.4 percent of the world’s population, and more than 25 percent of the world GDP and by forming this development bank demonstrated that they want an adequate say in the global economy in accord with their aggregate size.
By acknowledging this, the BRICS and specifically China will have a larger say in world issues and will more accurately depict the worlds view on global conflicts.

-Mark Siatta