BRICS nations likely to announce setting up of $100-billion fund at fifth summit in Brazil

NEW DELHI: The BRICS nations are likely to formally announce the setting up of a $100-billion fund, which will help member countries tide over a current account deficit crisis, at their fifth summit next week in Brazil.

China will be the largest donor to this fund and is expected to contribute around $41 billion. India, Russia and Brazil will contribute $18 billion each with South Africa bringing in the remaining $5 billion. Typically, these contributions are in the form of commitments and no actual fund flow happens until the money is required.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had last year spoken about creating a $100-billion fund to steady currency markets at a meeting of BRICS leaders. This fund is in addition to the development bank, the other important part of the evolving BRICS financial architecture, which is expected to be formally launched through a treaty next week in Brazil.

"The fund, dubbed the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, is aimed to provide member countries with an emergency cushion of cash during times of crisis," said an official.

He added that the creation of this fund would reduce the reliance of emerging economies on the IMF and other multilateral institutions that are still dominated by the developed world. The US has not yet ratified a proposal that would give more powers to emerging economies in the IMF.

As of 2013, the five BRICS countries represent almost 3 billion people with a combined nominal GDP of $16.039 trillion and an estimated $4 trillion in combined foreign reserves. Argentina, which is attending next week's summit at the invitation of Russia, could later join the grouping.

Indonesia and Turkey have also been discussed as potential members, said officials.India had last year faced the threat of a widening current account deficit and possible balance of payment issues as the rupee depreciated steadily after the US spoke about the gradual rollback of its bond buyback programme-.

But a series of measures taken by the previous government and the central bank doused the fire and India ended 2013-14 with a current account deficit of 2 per cent or even less as against 4.8 per cent in the previous year. But if the ongoing Iraq crisis continues for a while, this figure could widen to 2.3 per cent in 2014-15.





DEVELOPMENT BANK

Negotiations for creating the bank have dragged on, with some members including India wary of China's aim of having a bigger stake in the bank by putting in more capital.

China has been pushing for a start-up capital of $100 billion for the BRICS Bank, but India supports a proposal which stipulated that member countries will contribute $10 billion each and keep $50 billion as the maximum limit for start-up capital.

China has said it is willing to contribute more than its share to give itself greater control over the bank's affairs, but this has been opposed by India and other member states. But there are signals that these differences are being ironed out.

A Reuters report on Monday cited a Chinese official as saying that there was an "extensive consensus" on the issue. "On the BRICS development bank, all parties have extensive consensus on this issue. Of course there are a few differences and different viewpoints on technical issues. We are fully confident that we can reach consensus and establish the BRICS development bank at this meeting," said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong.