When people were first introduced to emerging markets on a large scale, some of the most promising countries for investors were Brazil, Russia, India, and China – or BRIC nations.
With China looking like it’s topping out, rampant inflation in Brazil, and underperformance in Russia and some could argue India, are BRICs where investors should still be putting their emerging market money? Maybe not, though I would say I still like India of the four.
Interestingly, some analysts are starting to lump South Africa in with the BRICs
Well, I travelled to South Africa a few years ago, and got to sit with a businessman (and VIP subscriber) to talk about the South African economy and why he just sold his business to an Indian company. The S.A. rand was killing exports – plain and simple – and the government wasn’t doing much about it.
The government wasn’t doing much about the infrastructure and power needs, either, or the soaring unemployment. Official statistics had put unemployment at between 16% and 20%, but unofficially that figure could be as high as 40%. Read More
