New members joining AIIB will be difficult - Deputy Finance Minister Storchak

BEIJING, June 29. /TASS/. The procedure for adding new members to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will be much more difficult than the one for the New BRICS Development Bank, the Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak told TASS Monday after signing the agreement on Bank’s creation. "Theoretically it will be much easier to join BRICS Bank than AIIB. The reason is very simple. The BRICS bank allowed capital amounts to $100 bln, allocated capital is only $50 bln. This means that without changing the text of the agreement on the establishment of the bank, any potential new member can come and receive permission of the Board of Governors. It is not necessary to change the capital, it is not necessary to change the capital allocation, so there is no need to go to the parliament to ratify the amendment. In this sense, BRICS Bank is more flexible in terms of adding new members than the AIIB," the Minister said. "AIIB almost completely distributed its capital, only a small proportion remains. It is difficult to assume how the small proportion can be used, given that AIIB is formed on the basis of the GDP. Shares in the capital correlate with the GDP share. At the BRICS we distributed 50% of the bank's capital equally. This means that the remaining 50% may be distributed under the arrangement of the founders," Storchak added. On Monday, June 29, Russia signed an agreement on creating the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), becoming the third founding country for the voting share of this international financial institution. Russia was represented by the Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak who signed the document. Russia became the owner of 65,362 shares of the bank, receiving 5.92% of the vote. China and India got a voting share of 26.06% and 7.5%, respectively. A source in the Russian delegation told TASS the representatives of 50 countries have already signed the document, while another seven founding countries will ink it after undergoing a ratification procedure. These countries are Kuwait, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Denmark, Poland and South Africa. In an interview with TASS, Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Stanislav Voskresensky said the bank would operate in line with the principles similar to those of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the financing of the first projects is expected in 2016. The charter capital of the future financial institution will be $100 bln. The share of the Asian countries should not exceed 75%; participants from other regions have 25% of the capital. The charter capital divides into 1 mln of shares worth $100,000 each. Headquartered in Beijing, the bank is expected to start operation in late 2015. Read more