Iran’s Raisi: Facing A ‘Do or Die’ Economic Dilemma
June 28th, 2021
Via Asia Times, an article on the new Iranian leader’s most urgent task which is to fix the nation’s beleaguered economy but it’s not clear yet he has a plan: Speculation is rife in Iran over who will steer the economy under President-elect Ebrahim Raisi, the conservative cleric and judicial head who clinched an easy […]
Read more »From Togo to El Salvador: Every Platform Wants To Be A Super App
June 26th, 2021
Via Rest of World, an article on how – from Togo to El Salvador – real and wannabe super apps have proliferated across the world, aspiring to become the next WeChat or Alipay: “We were selling a dream.” That’s how Emeka Ajene and his co-founder Greg Costamagna described traipsing around the motorbike parks of Lomé, […]
Read more »Turkmenistan: Gradually Opening To The World Via Belt & Road Trade
June 26th, 2021
Via Silk Road Briefing, an article on Turkmenistan: Turkmenistan in most regards has been closed off to the world. However, due to its need to see infrastructure and energy projects move ahead, the country is beginning to become more accessible, on a gradual, step by step basis. Curiously, it is the much-maligned Chinese Belt & […]
Read more »Cambodia’s Economy At A Covid Crossroads
June 26th, 2021
Via Asia Times, a report on Cambodia’s economy: No one is sure who first said it, yet it remains a truism that there are three types of lies: “Lies, damned lies and statistics.” Recent reports from China’s Xinhua and several Phnom Penh-based newspapers about Cambodia’s economic prospects this year have given some reason for cheer. According […]
Read more »Tajikistan: Urgent Privatization of State-Owned Enterprises Needed
June 22nd, 2021
Via Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting, a report on Tajikistan’s urgent need to privatize its state-owned enterprises? State-owned enterprises are unprofitable, do not pay taxes, constantly demand incentives, suppress competition and poorly serve consumers, said Marat Mamadshoev, editor-in-chief of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) in Tajikistan. In his opinion, Tajikistan should accelerate […]
Read more »Pacific Undersea Cable Project Sinks After U.S. Warns Against Chinese Bid
June 22nd, 2021
Via Reuters, a report on strategic wrangling over undersea cables: A World Bank-led project declined to award a contract to lay sensitive undersea communications cables after Pacific island governments heeded U.S. warnings that participation of a Chinese company posed a security threat, two sources told Reuters. The former Huawei Marine Networks, now called HMN Technologies […]
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.