World News | Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to Head BRICS Bank

Beijing, Mar 24 (PTI) Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was "unanimously" elected on Friday as the head of the New Development Bank (NDB), a multilateral financial institution set up by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries.

Rousseff, 75, succeeds her compatriot Marcos Troyjo, the Shanghai-headquartered bank announced.

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"The Board of Governors of the NDB of the BRICS, (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), unanimously elected Rousseff as the President of the Bank, effective immediately," a press release from the bank said.

Rousseff is a close associate of the current Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who defeated Jair Bolsonaro in the elections held in October last year.

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Her appointment was announced ahead of Lula's visit to China on March 26 at the invitation of President Xi Jinping.

An economist, Rousseff was elected President of Brazil for two consecutive terms.

She was, however, removed from office in 2016 following allegations of manipulating the budget which she has denied.

In July 2014, she participated with the BRICS countries in the setting up of the NDB.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)