China-based Brics bank set for lead role in hunger alliance this year, Brazil says
Brazilian minister Wellington Dias tells SCMP a fund to cut borrowing costs for the poor may launch by December as US marginalises the G20
Quick Look
Brazil's social development minister, Wellington Dias, announced that the Brics-founded New Development Bank may launch a $200 million fund by December to provide cheap loans for poor families in Africa and Latin America, supporting Brazil's anti-hunger alliance.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty was launched at the 2024 G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro. The initiative was subsequently dropped from the G20 agenda under the US presidency.
The Brics-founded New Development Bank could help launch a fund by the end of the year to guarantee cheap loans for poor families in Africa and Latin America, Brazil’s social development minister said.
The scheme would be the Shanghai-based lender’s first financial commitment to Brazil’s global anti-hunger alliance, an initiative sidelined by Washington’s presidency of the G20 this year.
Wellington Dias told the South China Morning Post on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York that the chances of a first pilot programme, worth as little as US$200 million, getting off the ground by December were “very big”. The bank is designing the scheme with four other development lenders, he added, and each still has to run its compliance checks.
The money would go to Brazil’s Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, launched at the G20 summit Brazil hosted in Rio de Janeiro in November 2024 but dropped from the group’s agenda after the United States took over the rotating presidency in December last year.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Launch of a $200 million pilot fund by December.
Likely · Within months
Open Questions
- Will the four other development lenders approve the compliance checks?
- How will the US respond to the Brics bank's involvement?
