Egypt's Parliament endorses pact to join Brics Bank

Days after Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi visited India as chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations, the Egyptian Parliament has endorsed the agreement that allows Egypt to officially join the New Development Bank set up by Brics.

Egyptian MPs welcomed the agreement, seeing in it a way to help reduce demand for US dollars. The next Brics summit to be hosted by South Africa in August is expected to give a big push to intra-Brics trade in national currencies, enabling member states to safeguard their foreign exchange reserves.

Egypt has also expressed interest in joining Brics, others being Iran and Argentina.