The New Development Bank (NDB) cannot separate South Africa from its neighbours when deciding on extending development loans, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said on Monday.

Speaking at the fourth annual meeting of the NDB at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, Mboweni said countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) were so intertwined that "looking at South Africa in isolation of South Africa doesn't make sense".

He cited roads which run from South Africa through several African countries and transport goods, as well as the Grand Inga project, which has the capacity to generate some 40 000 megawatts of hydropower from the Congo river, which can be distributed to South Africa and the rest of the Democratic Republic of Congo's neighbours.

"If that [Grand Inga] project reaches completion Southern Africa would be more richer because that project has the capability to provide hydropower to a larger part of Southern Africa," he said.

"The way in which Southern Africa is so intertwined requires of us to have a regional approach from the NDB."

The NDB was established by countries in the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bloc of countries as a multilateral finance institution.