Insight - Why emerging markets must think for themselves

According to the Institute of International Finance, emerging markets attracted US$313bil (RM1.28 trillion) in portfolio flows in 2020, US$48bil less than the previous year. Furthermore, foreign direct investments (FDIs) fell 42% from US$1.5 trillion in 2019 to an estimated US$859bil, per UNCTAD Investment Trends Monitor. (File pic - Philippines stock exchange display board)

“APRIL is the cruellest month”, so said the poet T.S. Eliot in his 1920s poem, the Wasteland. The April Spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank will be held virtually this year, locked down by the pandemic that is raging into its third wave worldwide.

The world is in a cruel situation, because the uneven arrival of vaccines demonstrate that a few rich countries get them first, whereas the health and economic condition for the many are dire. The latest available OECD Economic Outlook suggested that the recovery in 2021 will be divergent, meaning that certain countries will do better, but others will continue to struggle. That is polite officialese for devastation.