Taking it to the Bank: Gender Issues at the New Development Bank

BRICS is a hot topic today. It is the new “kid” or the next big thing in global governance and in macro economics today. Set up in 2009, in the aftermath of 2008 global financial crisis with four countries and then expanded to South Africa in 2010, BRICS is seen as an emergence of shifts in economic power, and as a step towards constructing a multi polar world. In spite of ongoing crises and slower growth that has raised doubts around what this new block means in terms of emancipation in global politics, BRICS does shine light on the way the world would be tomorrow. BRICS countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are very different. Their internal systems, political structures, history and culture etc are very distinct. As emerging or re-emerging economies each still deals with poverty, issues of democracy, economic development, geo politics, and environment in their own ways and sometimes oppose to one another. The Fortaleza BRICS Summit 2014 saw the announcement of the setting up of a multilateral development bank which would enable lending exclusively by the BRICS states. It was earlier called the BRICS bank but was later renamed the New Development Bank (NDB) and its scope expanded.