China-backed AIIB to lend US$10b-US$15b a year for first five years

BEIJING: The president-elect of China’s new international development bank said he expects the institution to lend US$10bil-US$15bil a year for the first five or six years, and sought to allay concerns that the lender will be a tool of Beijing.

Jin Liqun, who takes up the AIIB presidency after its expected inauguration toward the end of December, said the bank will start operations in the second quarter of 2016. He said the US dollar would be the operating currency of the bank but the institution would consider financing requests in other currencies, including the yuan.