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Iran is set to formally join the New Development Bank (NDB), established by the BRICS group of emerging economies, in the near future, the country’s central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati has said.
Hemmati made the announcement in an interview with state media ahead of a BRICS finance ministers’ meeting scheduled to be held in India, according to Reuters.
Iran is under extensive US and international sanctions and has yet to reach a peace agreement to end its ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel. The situation has increased Tehran’s interest in finding alternative financial channels outside the dollar-based global financial system.
Iran formally joined the expanded BRICS grouping of emerging economies in 2024. Since then, Tehran has repeatedly expressed its interest in becoming a member and shareholder of the NDB.
“The most important achievement of cooperation among BRICS member countries is the establishment of the New Development Bank,” Hemmati said. “Our country is going to become a member of this bank very soon.”
The NDB was established in 2015 by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging economies.
Since its establishment, the bank has expanded its membership beyond the original BRICS countries, bringing in other emerging economies, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
Iran’s expected entry into the NDB would provide Tehran with another avenue for financial and development cooperation with emerging economies amid its continued restrictions on access to Western-led financial institutions and markets.
