SHANGHAI, April 14. /TASS/. The New Development Bank of the BRICS group of major emerging market economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is considering raising funds through the issuance of ruble-denominated bonds, Bank President Kundapur Vaman Kamath said on Friday.

"We are looking with great interest at the local Russian currency. Last year, our team held negotiations in Russia with financial regulators," the Bank president said in reply to a TASS question during a meeting with journalists in the BRICS headquarters in Shanghai.

"We discussed the possibilities of raising funds in the local currency through the bond issue denominated in rubles. The response was positive and now our teams are studying this possibility," he said, adding that the BRICS New Development Bank still "needs to carry out additional market research."

"We expect to work on this issue during this year but it is early yet to give the timeframe of entering the Russian market," the BRICS New Development Bank president said.

"The consideration of two projects in Russia is planned for the next three weeks," he said without specifying the projects.

When asked about partners of potential projects in Russia, he said those will be either directly the borrower within the projects or the state.

The BRICS New Development Bank is focused on financing infrastructural and sustainable development projects in the grouping’s member states, as well as in developing countries.

In 2016, the BRICS New Development Bank approved the first package of projects worth $1.5 billion in the field of environmentally friendly and renewable energy. As was reported earlier, the Bank is currently considering the issue of financing 15 projects worth over $2 billion in the BRICS member states in 2017.