The New Development Bank (NDB) issued its first bonds worldwide to raise funds for clean energy projects in member states.

The five-year green bonds, denominated in the Chinese currency yuan, are worth 3 billion yuan ($449 million) and were sold in China's onshore interbank bond market.

It was the first time in seven years that a global financial institution has issued the yuan-denominated bond in China.

The bonds attracted investors from home and abroad. At its roadshow on July 12, more than 40 domestic and overseas institutional investors subscribed to the bonds.

NDB president K.V. Kamath said the issuance was a milestone for the multilateral development bank. It may help boost sustainable development and serve as a signal of support for capital markets in BRICS countries, Kamath said.

Kamath said the bank will support more clean and renewable energy use to reduce carbon emissions.

Issuance of the yuan-denominated bonds shows the confidence international financial institutions have in the Chinese currency and could promote the internationalization of the yuan, said Chen Siqing, governor of the Bank of China.

Bank of China is the lead underwriter. Other underwriters include China Development Bank, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, HSBC and Standard Chartered.

The NDB also plans to issue another 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in green bonds in China in the next six months, said Leslie Maasdorp, NDB's vice president and chief financial officer.

The bank is also planning to sell bonds in Russia and India to fund green projects there, Maasdorp said.

Headquartered in Shanghai, the NDB was jointly founded by the BRICS countries of China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa in July 2014 and officially opened for business a year later.

China has quickly become the world's largest green bond market, with bonds issued in the first half of the year reaching 75 billion yuan ($11.25 billion), 33 percent of the world's total, according to Zhang Xin, deputy director of the People's Bank of China Shanghai headquarters.

China's green bond market has huge growth potential as its green industries need total investment of 2 trillion yuan ($298.6 bil) annually, while the government can only fund 10 to 15 percent of the total, said Zhou Guannan, an analyst with Huachuang Securities.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2016)