Derek Newberry

Emerged Economies

emergingMost people steeped in the development field see the term developing countries as negative and pass?; we call the up and coming global presence of countries like China, Brazil and Indonesia ?emerging economies.? This term is not about being PC, it’s about accuracy and according to the Economist (subscription), these countries have really been living up to that title of late.

The magazine reports on the record growth and mainstream investment flowing into countries once unfairly stereotyped as having backward economies with poor management. Take the example of India, which has recently gotten a significant amount of attention over the vast sums of money being moved into the country.And I am not referring to aid organizations- India (as I recently reported) has become a target for American VCs, who are investing over $4 billion in several sectors. VC Circle writes today that India is projected to receive $7 billion in private equity by 2010. The country is even awash in cash from workers abroad, as the remittances market is expected to grow 15-20% in that same time period.

What all this means is that for a growing number of countries, the case no longer has to be made that they are emerging- the moment is slowly receding, although not gone yet, when organizations like mine will have to work to convince investors that India and China offer solid investment opportunities. At this rate, maybe the development jargon will have to change again from emerging to ?recently emerged? economies or REEs? think it will catch on?

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