Editor’s note: This article was first published in November 2013; its views and forecasts on the BRIC and MINT economies, including the 20-year outlook and the doubts about China’s housing market, are from that time.
Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs economist who popularised the term “BRIC” to describe a group of emerging market economies made up of Brazil, Russia, India and China, is no longer at all sure that these countries are emerging, because, according to him, they have taken a turn for the worse.
Many investors doubt the ability of these supposedly emerging economies to keep up the rapid growth that has characterised them in recent years, not to mention the well-founded suspicions about the risk of a property bubble in China.
That is why, in his Bloomberg column, the economist has turned his attention to other economies that are smaller than the BRICs and that, given their growth potential, he considers suitable for investment.
Which countries make up the new “MINT” emerging markets?
Coincidentally, the acronym spells “mint”, so these would be the new “minty countries”. The MINTs are Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey.
According to Jim O’Neill, all of these countries enjoy very favourable conditions for at least the next 20 years, and their economic prospects are interesting, the economist says. Indonesia is the one he particularly likes.
Featured image: Kaiserble , Viller the Great, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
