A Much Needed Change in Leadership at the BRICS New Development Bank

As the five-country BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) prepares its expansion into the BRICS Plus in the months ahead, with the addition of several new nations, a timely change will occur at the top of the New Development Bank (NDB). The current head, Marcos Troyjo of Brazil, who was named by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in 2020 to serve a five year term, will step down early this coming March 24. He will be replaced by Lula da Silva’s choice for the job, former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, for the remainder of Brazil’s rotating mandate. Rousseff is known for her strong advocacy of Brazil’s role in the BRICS and her rejection of neo-liberal economics.

The formality of a vote by the Board of Governors of the NDB is still required, but Globo.com and other media report that approval is all but certain. Over the past two years, Dilma Rousseff has been outspoken in her opposition to NATO’s “hybrid war” against Russia, and has asserted that the weaponization of the dollar by sanctions means that the days of dollar hegemony are over. She has argued that China’s stunning development is a far better model than the de-industrialization resulting from neoliberalism’s “financialization of the economy”, and that Ibero-America’s future lies with the Belt and Road Initiative.

In that light, it is reported that Rousseff will accompany President Lula during his March 28 state visit to China. Many things will be on the agenda for the Lula-Xi summit, including their respective proposals for a negotiated solution to the Ukraine crisis as well as future plans for BRICS Plus.