Exhausting the Desert: Cash, Concrete, and Cucumbers in Jordan
July 18th, 2024
Courtesy of Synaps, commentary on the sustainability – or lack thereof – of Jordan’s water-based economy: Drive through Jordan in springtime, and you could easily forget that the country is among the world’s most water scarce and imports practically all its staple foods. Date groves and greenhouses line the Jordan Valley. Fields of grain sprout […]
Read more »Tajikistan: Without Reform, Central Asia’s Growth Champion Faces Tougher Times
July 18th, 2024
Via Emerging Europe, a report on Tajikistan: In order for Tajikistan to ensure sustainable development, it needs to implement structural reforms focused on enhancing economic openness and competitive neutrality, and improve public sector governance, transparency and accountability for better public service delivery. With the highest growth rate of any economy in Central and Eastern Europe […]
Read more »The Chinese Base That Isn’t There
July 15th, 2024
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how new port facilities and the months-long presence of Chinese warships in Cambodia show Beijing’s growing global influence: In 2020, something curious happened at Cambodia’s Ream military base, on the Gulf of Thailand. Not long after submitting — and then abruptly withdrawing — a request for […]
Read more »Malaysia’s King Bids to Revive Chinese-Backed ‘Dream Paradise’
July 15th, 2024
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on the Malaysia’s king bid to revive a Chinese-backed ‘dream paradise’ – the $100bn Forest City development on Malaysia’s southern coast aimed to provide homes for as many as 700,000 people: Malaysia’s billionaire king is trying to resuscitate a huge real estate project he helped launch in his […]
Read more »Cuba: Ratcheting Up Pressure On Private Business As Economic Crisis Deepens
July 15th, 2024
Via Reuters, an article on Cuba decision to ratchet up pressure on private business as economic crisis deepens: Cuba is tightening regulations on fledgling private businesses, reining in profits and beefing up oversight as the government wrestles with how best to manage fast-growing private enterprise in the communist-run country. Cuban authorities two years ago lifted […]
Read more »Conflict in Congo Threatens Trade in Key Metals, UN Experts Say
July 15th, 2024
Via Bloomberg, a report on how conflict in the DRC is threatening mining of key metals: Main mine for world’s coltan ‘ineligible for trade’ due to war ‘Serious risk’ region’s metal supply contaminated by conflict Companies buying metal sourced from central Africa could be exposing themselves to United Nations sanctions for supporting war in eastern […]
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.