Jakarta. Indonesia should consider urging the BRICS to let its newcomers borrow money from the alliance’s lender New Development Bank or NDB, according to an analyst.

The BRICS grouping originally brought together Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Last year, BRICS expanded with the entry of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Just last week, BRICS welcomed Indonesia as its tenth member. 

The alliance, which took shape as a counterweight to Western influence, has its own multilateral development bank NDB. This lender has approved $32.8 billion in funding, all of which is going to the BRICS’ original five members. As of Dec. 2022, China and India dominated NDB’s project portfolio, reaching $8.1 billion and $7.5 billion, respectively.

Muhamad Habib, a researcher at the think-tank CSIS, told reporters that Indonesia should consider pursuing regulatory changes related to the NDB financing as one of its first orders of business in BRICS. By making the funding more inclusive to the club's new members, Indonesia can show that its presence in BRICS can create an impact on the global economic architecture.

“The NDB to this day has not made any amendments to its [financing] facilities and regulations. So its funding mainly prioritizes the [BRICS’] founding members. The money has not reached the [BRICS’] new members,” Habib told the press in Jakarta on Monday.

“Indonesia should include these [NDB] amendments in its BRICS agenda. That is to make sure that the [BRICS] new joiners also get prioritized for the NDB financing,” Habib said.

Egypt so far is the only non-founding member that has actually tried to tap into the bank’s cash. However, the NDB has not greenlit any funding proposals that Egypt had submitted. Egyptian utility firm Suez Wind Energy S.A.E  has asked the NDB to fund up to $100 million for its 1.1-gigawatt wind farm in the Suez region. The Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank has requested the NDB to lend up to $200 million for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in Egypt.

 The UAE already became part of the NDB in 2021 -- a few years before it formally secured a seat in BRICS. However, the UAE has not made any financing proposals. 

Despite not being a BRICS member, Bangladesh is already part of the NDB. It has asked the NDB to grant some funding, but all proposals are still waiting for NDB’s approval. 

Some of the projects that the NDB has said yes to include a $490 million loan for India to expand the state highways in Madhya Pradesh. Last August, the NDB agreed to lend up to $150 million equivalent for China’s Bank of Communications Financial Leasing to acquire at least three large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. This funding aims to bolster the transportation capacity for the import of LNG to China.