South Africa Leader Praises BRICS Bank As Alternative to World Bank System

BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) is a long-awaited alternative to established Western financial institutions, South African President Jacob Zuma told RT broadcaster.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Jacob Zuma's statement came Monday, two days ahead of the annual summit of BRICS member states — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — in the Russian city of Ufa on July 8-9.

"We’ve had these old banks that have been established many years back. The world has moved, the world has developed. For a number of years we've been calling for the transformation of the financial institutions globally… We now have a bank that is an alternative," Zuma said.

The president suggested that Western lenders "want to dictate what you should do," and described the NDB as an alternative for doing business.

Zuma added that West still treats African nations, including South Africa, as former colonies, while within BRICS, member states are equal partners.

The NDB was created in July 2014 as an alternative to legacy western global financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

The countries also agreed to establish a $100-billion liquidity reserve to maintain the bank's financial stability.