Iran eyes BRICS bank membership

Bank head confirms interest

Iran has formally reaffirmed its intention to join the multilateral lender BRICS New Development Bank (NDB).

The commitment came from Iran’s central bank governor, Mohammad Reza Farzin at a meeting with Dilma Rousseff, president of NDB, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)'s finance summit.

Farzin pointed to Iran’s active participation in global and regional financial institutions, including its membership on the IMF Executive Board and its leadership of a bloc of eight countries within the Fund.

Rousseff, the former president of Brazil, said she welcomed Iran’s economic potential, noting that it would support the bank’s development goals.

Supporting sustainable development in member countries

The BRICS New Development Bank was created in 2014 by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member countries. Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Ethiopia officially joined in 2024, while other nations, including Turkey and Syria, have expressed interest in membership.

Together, BRICS countries account for 40 percent of global financial reserves, 25 percent of world trade, and 35.6 percent of global GDP, according to World Bank data.

(Michael Leahy. Source: Tehran Times. Photo: Creative Commons 4.0 Int’l https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en