According to an announcement by South Africa’s National Treasury, the BRICS New Development Bank has just approved a $1 billion loan for infrastructure investment, including water, electricity, and sewage works. The terms are favorable—15 years with a five-year grace period, and an interest rate linked to the Fed’s Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).
The timing is also of note, since it comes in the run-up to national elections, in which the governing ANC part is being heavily targeted by international forces that are trying to drag South Africa out of the BRICS—of which it is a founding member.
