Which Frontier Markets Companies Are Multinationals ?

Up until a few decades ago the term “Multi-National Company” or MNC generally represented Western companies that were true multinationals and operated across the globe. In the recent decades, as emerging countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China grew stronger economically some of firms from these countries emerged as the new emerging multinationals. A few …

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Caution Warranted on Frontier Markets

Frontier market stocks have soared so far this year. Compared to emerging and developed markets the performance of frontier market stocks is exceptionally good year-to-date(YTD). As of Aug 6th, the MSCI Frontier Market Index increased by 19% YTD while the MSCI indices for Emerging and Developed Markets were up by only 6% and 2.2% respectively. The …

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Are Frontier Markets The Next Emerging Markets?

Frontier markets are the wild west of the investing universe. These markets include countries like Côte d’Ivoire, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Qatar, Tunisia, etc. The equity markets in some of these countries have performed well in recent years which is attracting investors’ attention. In a recent article I discussed about these markets and suggested that investors should not into …

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A Short Review of Labor Market in MENA Region

The labor market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is the most inefficient according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index. Rising youth population and high unemployment rates is a chronic issue in the region. The IMF notes that Egypt has to create 700,000 new jobs every year to keep its current unemployment rate …

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