BRICS bank NDB to change its Brazilian head at governments request

BRASILIA (Reuters) – The New Development Bank, the multilateral bank set up by the BRICS states, said on Friday it had agreed to elect a new Brazilian head at the request of the government of Brazils new president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Brazil holds the rotating presidency of the NDB until July 6, 2025. NDB said the bank‘s current president, Marcos Troyjo, would step down by March 24 and the NDB’s governors would elect a successor nominated by Brazil to complete the term.

Lula has proposed former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff to head the bank, which the BRICS group of emerging economies set up in 2015. Lula is including Rousseff in his delegation to visit China at the end of March.

Rousseff, a member of Lula‘s leftist Workers’ Party, succeeded him in the presidency in 2011 and won re-election three years later, but ended up being impeached in 2016 during a harsh recession on charges that she had manipulated budget accounts.

The NDB serves the five BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – plus Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates.

Troyjo has driven NDBs intake of new members, overseen the establishment of a permanent headquarters in Shanghai, and expanded its portfolio of project approvals to $32.8 billion, the NDB said in its statement.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Kevin Liffey)