Emerging markets like India, South Africa
and Brazil are being described as 'Fragile Five' by a global investment
banker for their over dependence on skittish foreign investment to
finance their growth ambitions. The new catchphrase 'Fragile Five' is
being used to describe markets which have witnessed economic turmoil in
recent years, a rival to the term BRICs that had highlighted the
long-term growth potential of Brazil, India, South Africa, Russia and
China. A report in the New York Times said the 'Fragile Five' has been
coined by a research analyst at Morgan Stanley which identifies Turkey,
Brazil, India, South Africa and Indonesia as "economies that have become
too dependent on skittish foreign investment to finance their growth
ambitions." It said that the term 'Fragile Five' has caught on in large
degree as it highlights the "strains that occur when countries place
too much emphasis on stoking fast rates of economic growth". The new
catchphrase is also raising pressing questions about not just the state
of the BRICs economy but about emerging markets in general. The term
coined by Morgan Stanley became a quick and easy way for investors to
give voice to fears of a broader emerging markets rout, propelled by
runs on the Turkish lira, Brazilian real and South African rand. Morgan
Stanley currency analyst James Lord sent out last August a research
note warning of the risks within the "fragile five". The name spread
quickly, especially among investors already nervous about their
emerging-market holdings. Lord and his team at Morgan Stanley have been
playing down his original thesis. "We have been using the term less
and less in our research," he said, explaining that responses by policy
makers in these countries have to some extent addressed the issues he
raised. Jim O'Neill, an economist at Goldman Sachs, who had coined the
term BRICs in late 2001, said he still believes these markets are the
"best investment opportunities in the world."
When O'Neill had coined the BRICs phrase, foreign capital inflows into emerging markets were about USD 190 billion a year, according to data from the Institute of International Finance, the trade group for international banks. As yield-starved investors poured into O’Neill’s markets and their economies, the annual net inflows into BRICs markets averaged a little over one trillion dollars a year since 2010. However the economic picture changed last summer, when the Fed’s announcement that it would eventually reverse its bond-buying programme panicked giddy emerging-market investors, the report added. Concerns like a slowdown of growth in China, political uncertainty in Russia and Turkey and "most crucially", vulnerable currencies in Brazil and South Africa, spurred concerns over the possibility of a broader market panic, the report added.
When O'Neill had coined the BRICs phrase, foreign capital inflows into emerging markets were about USD 190 billion a year, according to data from the Institute of International Finance, the trade group for international banks. As yield-starved investors poured into O’Neill’s markets and their economies, the annual net inflows into BRICs markets averaged a little over one trillion dollars a year since 2010. However the economic picture changed last summer, when the Fed’s announcement that it would eventually reverse its bond-buying programme panicked giddy emerging-market investors, the report added. Concerns like a slowdown of growth in China, political uncertainty in Russia and Turkey and "most crucially", vulnerable currencies in Brazil and South Africa, spurred concerns over the possibility of a broader market panic, the report added.
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