By Rhod Mackenzie

The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) has issued an RMB-denominated bond of 8.5 billion yuan (about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars) on the China Interbank Bond Market, the bank announced. It is the bank's biggest RMB bond issuance to date.

The net proceeds from the sale of the bonds will be used to finance infrastructure and sustainable development activities in the bank's member countries, the NDB said.

"In order to support our operations, the NDB seeks to increase its presence in local capital markets of our member countries by issuing and lending in local currencies, including the China Interbank Bond Market," said Leslie Maasdorp, vice president and chief financial officer of the NDB.

Headquartered in Shanghai, the NDB was established by BRICS nations, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The bank formally opened in July 2015.

In 2021, the NDB initiated a membership expansion and admitted Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay as new member countries.

This article originally appeared at https://english.news.cn/