MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Seven S. American countries launch the Bank of the South

South American Economy ministers agreed in Montevideo on an initial credit turnover of 20 billion US dollars for the regional development Bank of the South as well as each country member's contribution and credit access.

However the decision is pending on Argentina's approval, particularly the bank's members voting rights, since President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner administration was absent from the meeting because of last week's cabinet crisis which forced a change in the Economy ministry. It's expected that in a week's time the issue could be solved following meetings with the executives from Argentina and the rest of the bank's members, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay. Chile, Colombia and Peru have not decided yet whether they will integrate the bank. Uruguay's Economy minister Danilo Astori, who hosted the meeting in Montevideo said that the working capital authorized 20 billion will be reached as the different countries begin making their contributions to the subscribed capital of 7 billion US dollars. Astori revealed that the main subscribers belong to the larger economies, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela, each of them contributing two billion US dollars; a second level with Uruguay and Ecuador incorporating 400 million US dollars each and lastly Paraguay and Bolivia with 100 million US dollars each. The initial minimum subscription is 20%, with different timetables to complete what was accorded. The leading economies will have up to five years, and the other two levels will have ten years. Of the subscription 10% can be with local currency but the rest must be international currencies (US dollar, Euro, Pound, Yen, etc.) Astori added that the bank is mainly targeted to help the smaller and weaker economies, which means that for the leading group the ratio between credit access and contribution will be 4 to 1 while for the rest of the country members the ratio is double, 8 to one. Nevertheless the project not only has two immediate issues in the agenda, Argentina's approval and voting rights, but must also be submitted to legislative approval in the different country members, a process which could take time.