The BRICS bloc bank has announced its first-ever debt issuance in the Chinese special administrative region of Macau, totaling 50 million dollars (43.9 million euros).
In a note released on Friday, the New Development Bank (NDB) stated that the operation represents “a major milestone” in the institution’s ongoing efforts to diversify its funding sources and expand its footprint into new markets.
The bank confirmed it successfully concluded the transaction on Wednesday. The debt carries a three-year maturity, is denominated in euros, and was priced at the daily Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) plus 0.3 percentage points.
The issuance was arranged by the Macau branch of the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and registered through Macau’s central securities depository. The territory’s Central Securities Depository and Clearing system, owned by the Monetary Authority of Macau, was officially launched in December 2021.
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Headquartered in China’s financial and economic hub of Shanghai, the NDB was founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It is currently led by former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (2011–2016), whose nomination was put forward by Russia. Rousseff was re-elected in March 2025 to a five-year term at the helm of the institution.
The NDB was established in 2014 and became operational a year later, aiming to offer an alternative financing mechanism for developing nations. Since 2021, it has steadily expanded its membership to include Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and most recently, Indonesia, which formalized its entry in March 2025 following an official visit by Rousseff to Jakarta.
The bank’s expansion comes at a time when the BRICS group is assuming a more prominent role in multilateral forums amid ongoing debates surrounding the reconfiguration of the global economic order.
Concurrently, Macau has been actively promoting financial services to diversify its local economy, which remains heavily reliant on casino gaming and tourism.
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In November, Macau’s Chief Executive, Sam Hou Fai, highlighted that the total value of debt securities issued in the region—primarily by Chinese central and local authorities—had surpassed 100 billion patacas (10.9 billion euros). Later in January, the China Development Bank became the first Chinese state bank to issue debt in Macau, floating 5.5 billion yuan (710 million euros) specifically to finance projects in Portuguese-speaking countries.
China designated the Macau Special Administrative Region as a platform for economic and commercial cooperation with Portuguese-speaking nations in 2003, establishing the Macau Forum that same year. The body comprises the members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP): Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor, and Equatorial Guinea.
