JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The New Development Bank, set up by the BRICS group of emerging economies, has approved loans of $300 million for energy projects in South Africa and $300 million for a transportation project in China.
South Africa, which will host a BRICS summit later this week in Johannesburg, is trying to diversify its energy mix to reduce its reliance on heavily polluting coal-fired power plants.
It has launched several bidding rounds for billions of dollars of renewable energy deals in recent years, with the latest expected to open later this year.
Its $300 million loan to China is for a new metro line in the city of Luoyang. With the two projects, the bank’s portfolio of loans stands at more than $5.7 billion.
The BRICS grouping comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Russia said this month that it was in talks with the New Development Bank about borrowing more than $1 billion for infrastructure projects.