Top EU official warns West needs to act to avoid losing developing world’s trust

The head of the European Union's powerful lending arm has warned the West is at risk of losing the confidence of the global south, with China and Russia and others stepping in, unless it urgently intensifies its own support efforts. Werner Hoyer, the European Investment Bank's President, said this week's BRICS summit in South Africa and a push to make the group's New Development Bank – known as the BRICS bank – an alternative to established Western multilateral lenders, underscored the need to significantly increase lending.