Bank of the South indispensable for region: Ecuador

Quito, July 24, 2014.- Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said yesterday that the Bank of the South was an indispensable tool for the region, as his country made its first contribution to the institution.

Ecuador contributed 8 million U.S. dollars to the reserves of the bank, established in 2009 by seven South American nations as a regional alternative to traditional global lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Founding countries of the bank includes Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela and the bank will be headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela, and have offices in Bolivia and Argentina.

The finance chiefs of member countries are to meet Friday in Argentina to elect the bank's president and board of directors, said Patino.

"Once that takes place, the Bank of the South can open its doors,and make resources available and begin to operate. Projects have already begun to be submitted to the Bank of the South for analysis," Patino said.

The Bank of the South was created as part of the development initiatives of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), which also gathers Peru, Colombia, Chile, Guyana and Suriname.

Last week, the BRICS bloc of emerging economies -Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa- established the New Development Bank, a similar alternative for development financing.