An unpredictable regulatory environment in Brazil, Russia, India, and China-(BRIC nations) coupled with the search for a growing middle class by international investors has prompted the formation of a new economic bloc called the MINTs.
The MINT countries are Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey and are believed by experts to have long term investment potential and economic benefit.
The countries according to investors have remarkable similarities in their economies and posses the potential to return huge profits on investments in its major sectors in the near future,
Experts have noted that investors in the BRIC nation are disappointed in recent times due to the difficulties in investing in these countries and because of low returns on investments.
In recent times, expectations on Russia’s growth are a mismatch for investors’ as well as low opinion of corporate transparency and corruption in the region. Likewise, China has been quite disappointing in recent times with its environmental regulation.
Though most investors still operate within the BRIC market, the temptation of an emerging MINT market is expected to attract investors into these countries where they can access “free” markets and take advantage of an emerging economy.
The investment potential of these four emerging markets is in each of the country’s ongoing development in its major sectors, experts say. “With the strong hand of government intervention guiding these countries through current developmental phase and the private sector also developing rapidly in these emerging economies, long term investors can take the challenge of investing in these emerging markets either in financial services, consumer goods or in energy,” an expert said. A closer look at the MINTs show Mexico has a very high economic exposure to the United States, which is both a positive and negative attribute for investors. Nearly 80 percent of its exports go across the border to the US and the country receives a large amount of US investment.
Indonesia is expected to utilize its huge population of over 200 million people which has played a key role in the country’s stock market growth over the past decade. Indonesia’s economy itself is expected to keep expanding at a good rate.
Nigeria has been predicted to be a major destination for economic boom in the near future despite images of poverty and corruption masking some of the opportunities for exciting investment opportunities. Its economic boom has not really got going, and most people are not confident enough to predict the start of a growth explosion.
Turkey has seen a robust economic recovery since the global financial crisis. It grew by an estimated 8.1 percent last year and has a banking system which is in a relatively good condition.
ODINAKA MBONU
