LatinNews Daily - 19 May 2025

*Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has announced that his government has formally requested to join the New Development Bank (NDB) – the multilateral bank run by the Brics group of developing economies that comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa before admitting new members in recent years. Petro made the announcement following a meeting in Shanghai with the head of the NDB, Brazil’s former president Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016). A statement from the Colombian presidency said that NDB membership would bring access to cheaper loans and would “mark a strategic step towards the diversification of international finance and the consolidation of alliances with emerging economies”, providing an alternative to multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Colombia’s finance minister, Germán Ávila Plazas, said that Colombia was prepared to purchase US$512.5m in shares in the NDB.

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