The Trade and Transit Woes of Landlocked Afghanistan
May 8th, 2020
Via The Diplomat, an article on how Pakistan plays a big role in dictating the fortunes of the Afghan economy: Being landlocked remains one of the most disadvantageous positions for a state, especially in the modern global economy dominated by maritime trade. Prominent Oxford University economist Paul Collier listed being landlocked with bad neighbors as […]
Read more »Mexico’s Pemex: From Cash Cow To Resource Drain
May 5th, 2020
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a look at Pemex: At the end of 2016, Pemex came up with a new strategy: it would focus exclusively on profitable activities. The plan, a no-brainer for most businesses, was a novelty for Mexico’s state oil company, a national champion created in 1938 after Mexico expropriated US and UK […]
Read more »The End of Emerging Markets?
May 4th, 2020
Via Foreign Policy, sober commentary on how economies such as Brazil, Indonesia, India, Russia, and Turkey face a daunting new reality. The story of the coronavirus has so far been told mostly from the perspective of rich countries, but its harshest effects will still likely be felt by the world’s poor. Africa’s cases rose by […]
Read more »Venezuela’s New Oil Minister
May 4th, 2020
Via Ozy, commentary on Venezuela’s new Oil Minister: By selecting Tareck El-Aissami as his new oil minister, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has given the enormous task of fixing the country’s most important industry to a man who has little expertise in the sector — and who is wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. […]
Read more »Wanna Do Business in Pyongyang? Call North Korea’s Guy in Spain
May 3rd, 2020
Via Bloomberg, an interesting article on doing business in North Korea: The message from Dubai in late 2018 wasn’t unusual. It’s just part of the day for Alejandro Cao de Benós to open his email and find some intrepid capitalist who wants to do a little business in North Korea. Recently, there was the one […]
Read more »Ethiopia Gets Step Closer to Issuing New Telecom Licenses
May 2nd, 2020
Via Bloomberg, an article on Ethiopia’s movement to liberalize its telephony sector: Ethiopia moved closer to liberalizing one of the world’s final frontiers for telecommunications by publishing the final draft of directives that mention spectrum permits will be valid for 15 years. The Ethiopian Communications Authority will hold consultations on the proposed rules for 14 […]
Read more »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.