Archive for 2020

Investing in African Logistics

Via Project Syndicate, commentary on how Africa – without more advanced logistics and infrastructure – will struggle to deliver essential supplies safely: As the COVID-19 crisis has escalated, stay-at-home orders have led to a surge in online purchases – of everything from groceries to medicines to household essentials – by consumers in the advanced economies. […]

Read more »



Egypt’s Cratering Economy

Via The Economist, a report on Egypt’s economy: There was never much chance of social distancing in Cairo, a city more populous than most countries. Buses fill to overflowing, passengers dangling out of open doors. Millions live in informal settlements with streets barely wide enough for a sedan. And indeed, unlike many other Arab countries, […]

Read more »



Will Caspian Trade Flow into the Persian Gulf?

Via Window on Eurasia, commentary on the potential for north-south trade in Central Asia: Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have agreed to promote the expansion of rail traffic from their countries through Iran to Oman and thus to the world ocean, a path that China will likely be the biggest beneficiary of and that will challenge Moscow’s […]

Read more »



The Time Is Now for a Trans-Caspian Pipeline

Via Real Clear World, commentary on the potential need for a Trans-Caspian pipeline: China will enter the post-COVID-19 era with many geopolitical advantages. Its lockdown is ending while many in the West are in the midst of theirs. Western policymakers have yet to reach consensus on how to decouple their supply chains from China. Beijing appears to be winning […]

Read more »



Can Mirziyoyev’s Reforms Bring About a Real Free Market Economy in Uzbekistan?

Via The Diplomat, a look at Uzbekistan, four years into its liberalization efforts: It has been almost four years since Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev embarked on a modernization mission through a series of political and economic reforms to repair his country’s poor global reputation as repressive and isolated country. By 2019, Mirziyoyev’s political opening aimed at […]

Read more »



The Mekong River Is Becoming A Significant South-East Asian Trade Corridor

Via Silk Road Briefing, an article on how – with the last major China-Laos railway tunnel completed On Lancang-Mekong corridor – the Mekong River is becoming a major South-East Asian trade corridor: The last significant tunnel to be bored to complete the China-Laotian Railway was completed on March 15th, with track now being laid at […]

Read more »


ABOUT
WILDCATS AND BLACK SHEEP
Wildcats & Black Sheep is a personal interest blog dedicated to the identification and evaluation of maverick investment opportunities arising in frontier - and, what some may consider to be, “rogue” or “black sheep” - markets around the world.

Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.