The establishment of two new multilateral development banks — the New Development Bank (NDB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) — was a result of efforts by the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. To become fully operational, the new institutions drew on the solid experience of the national development banks of BRICS members. National and new multilateral development banks can use each other’s experience and coordinate their work to achieve the development goals of the BRICS countries through the creation of an appropriate financing model that better meets the needs of developing countries and emerging economies than models offered by traditional development banks

The aim of this article is to identify the experience of national development banks in order to find ways to increase the effectiveness of existing institutions or create new ones in the area of development financing. The article also assesses the potential role of national development banks in ensuring sustainable development in their respective countries, primarily by facilitating the creation and upgrading of infrastructure. Finally, the author identifies the potential for cooperation among BRICS national development banks and between those banks and the NDB and AIIB.

This analysis shows that the provision of sustainable infrastructure financing is impossible without an effective combination of various sources of funds at a low cost on a long-term basis by development banks. At the same time, the most obvious source — direct financing from national budgets — is not optimal for the BRICS countries, as confirmed by the growing role of financial markets in providing resources they need. Still, countries should maintain certain regulatory preferences for national development banks, allowing them to address the growing level of competition from other financial institutions. The author also concludes that several factors limit the effectiveness of national development banks’ participation in foreign projects. These factors may act as incentives to forge closer partnerships among national banks and with multilateral banks.