Xiomeran officials announced today that the country will be launching its own international investment and development bank as an alternative to the GDIB.
Empress Calhualyana announced that Xiomera is creating the Imperial International Investment Bank, or I3B, to facilitate development and trade. “The Xiomeran Empire stands for progress, prosperity, innovation, free trade and commerce. By leveraging the experience and resources of Xiomera in combination with the efforts of nations that work with I3B, we can raise the development and economic progress of those nations together in a mutually respectful and beneficial way,” the Empress said at the announcement.
The purpose of I3B is to “promote and accelerate economic and infrastructure development around the world through smart investment, information and technology exchange, and mutual cooperation,” Ahuilizmara, the director of I3B, said. “By improving technology and infrastructure around the world, I3B will help increase stability and prosperity around the world.”
I3B is expected to offer development loans, grants and direct assistance with completing infrastructure and development projects in participating countries. It is also expected to offer the possibility of joint-use projects in participating countries.
While Xiomera’s bid to create an alternative to the GDIB is ambitious, it is unclear if Xiomera can catch up years after the GDIB’s creation. “I doubt that I3B can really catch up to the significant lead that GDIB has both in terms of recognition and actual presence,” Gael Saldaña, an economic analyst with DTNS, said. “The Xiomerans are clearly willing to invest quite a bit in trying, though. This can really be seen as a continuation of the longstanding goal of Empress Calhualyana and the XCP to bypass institutions that Tlālacuetztla believes are opposed to them.” Saldaña said that Xiomeran officials have long been annoyed by continued GDIB investment in Huenya, as well as the events that led to Xiomera’s withdrawal from IMTO. “The Xiomerans have tried to position themselves as an alternative to the existing liberal democratic order, and I3B is yet another way that Xiomera is trying to pull an end run around the existing structures in the world and pull nations in the other direction.”
Saldaña said that Xiomera will likely not bother trying to swing democratic nations towards I3B, but will instead target developing nations and nations whose commitment to democratic governance is either weak or nonexisting. “I3B’s charter makes it clear that I3B won’t ask any questions whatsoever as far as a nation’s commitment to environmentalism, democracy or rights. The Xiomerans will probably try to sway nations like Doi Nam, Kolda, Mallacaland and others who might be more interested in a partner that writes the checks without asking questions.” Saldaña also expressed concern that a Xiomeran-led development bank could try to trap nations in debt-trap diplomacy as a way to further increase Xiomera’s leverage and presence around the world. “The Xiomerans have figured out that nations aren’t likely to just let them keep taking people’s land outright anymore. So now, they hope to take it with the power of the quetzal instead of their tanks.”
Such concerns have been dismissed by Xiomeran officials. Empress Calhualyana told reporters that such criticisms are “just more anti-Xiomeran propaganda from nations and entities that have their own vested interests that they are trying to protect.”
“Just as our domestic leadership has ensured prosperity and progress at home, this expansion of our international leadership will ensure prosperity and progress abroad. Xiomera will help other nations achieve the success and progress they deserve without forcing them to comply with arbitrary policies and rules that do not respect their culture or governance.”
