Developing countries’ share of global equity market capitalization jumped to a record 24 % in the first half of 09 from the past levels of 15% at the start of 07 as more investors flock attracted by the growth story.
Investors are now beginning to realize that developed nations are possibly faced with decades of very low growth and may need decades to work off the mountain of debt which is the biggest since World War II. According to IMF recent forecast the total debt of developed nations used to fund various bank bailouts and stimulus packages could reach above 113% of GDP by 2014. This is more then three times the estimated forecast of 34% for developing nations. Though one could argue that developed countries have had bigger debt burden in the past ( post World War II ) reaching close to 250% of GDP in case of U.K., and over 100% in case of USA but these debts were repaid pretty quickly. On the other hand, we have to take into account that developed nations recorded decades of high growth just after the World War II ended which allowed them to get their fiscal house in order. In the current circumstances it is highly unlikely that the developed economies will see growth levels of post World War II era going forward.
Developed countries are in a catch-22 situation if they spend more to keep stimulating the economy they risk running into a huge unsustainable fiscal deficit. The combination of low growth and ballooning budget deficit could be very damaging to developed economies. The talk of the town is now increasingly focused on getting the fiscal deficit under control. It looks like the Governments in the developed world have resigned to the fact that they are entering into a low growth era. World Bank is now forecasting the GDP of high-income countries to shrink by over 4.2% in 09 and the overall global economy to contract by 2.9% in 2009. In terms of regional growth the World Bank is forecasting the growth in the Middle East and North Africa to fall to 3.1 percent, while that of sub-Saharan Africa to drop to 1 percent from an annual average of 5.7% and the LATAM to fall to 2% however, East Asia should post a growth of above 5%. Although the report suggests that economic growth in emerging countries could slow to 1.2% in 09 China and India should achieve a growth of above 6% in 09. We must also add that one of most interesting growth area of the global economy could potentially be rural India with its 700 million plus population. Some companies have already started to focus on rural area of the Indian economy as they see a very bright growth prospect going forward. The recent Indian budget has rural India at the centre and it looks like the government of India is aiming to UNLOCK the growth potential of rural India which is most certainly a step in the right direction.
It is becoming more apparent that going forward the growth is going to come mainly from the developing world. The ongoing CRISIS will mostly probably be recorded by historians as the event that triggered a POWER shift. The developing countries are already asking for more influence, oversight and control over how the global economy is managed, supervised and operates. The industrialized world’s clout to impose its policies will only weaken from here on. G-7 countries are beginning to realize that their grip on global affairs is slowly waning and they will have to give away a lot of their influence and control over how the global economy is run but that said it will be unwise to assume that developing economies are ready to lead the world.
We are already seeing signs of what could possibly be a shifting world order. We saw Russia host the first BRIC summit albeit a symbolic one. China, the world’s 3rd largest economy seems to be promoting Yuan as a serious alternative to dollar and it looks like they have a Grand plan for Yuan’s role as a global reserve currency going forward. This is evident from People’s bank of China recent unveiling of rules on Yuan-settlement facility. The rules will apply to companies involved in trade with Hong Kong, Indonesia and Macau. As a trial the central bank is going to allow companies in Shanghai and four cities in the Guangdong province to settle their trades in Yuan with companies in Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia. In a separate announcement on July 6 Bank of China signed clearing agreements for Yuan settlement in Shanghai with over 11 overseas banks, including Standard Chartered, Bank of East Asia and Bank Mandiri of Indonesia. As one of the major trading countries it makes complete sense for China to start reducing its reliance on dollar. Despite of the fact that the stage is being set to promote a real alternative to dollar by major developing economies including China, Russia, Brazil and now India one has to admit that in the short to medium term it is hard to envision dollar loosing its status as a global reserve currency.
However, more and more investors are getting attracted to the emerging market story and who would blame them. We saw the MSCI Emerging Markets Index rise by over 35 % in June 09, beating a mere 2.9 % rise in the MSCI Index of developed economies and increasing the value of stocks to $8.6 trillion from $5.1 trillion in 2008. We also saw the market capitalization of Brazilian equities reach close to US 950 billion while that of Indian equities reaching close to US one trillion and Chinese equities surpass the US 3 trillion dollar mark in June. It is becoming more and more evident that developing economies are now moving closer to the centre stage and it looks like the investors have formed an opinion that emerging market is where the PARTY is going to be and this probably explains why the Investors have poured in close to US 26 billion into emerging market equities in the 2nd quarter of 09.
Although one understands the euphoria but we should not forget the fact that we live in a very interlinked world and any country on a stand alone basis is not capable of growing in isolation forever. It has to be said that not all emerging countries will fair well, Latvia is a prime example, but emerging markets have mostly certainly come of age and going forward without much hesitation one can safely conclude that they are going to be the next generation of growth providers.
Sonykumar’s Blog 
Sanjeev or perhaps you prefer Sonny,
it has been common for people to call for paying down the debt in the U.S. I disagree with this approach.
The U.S. Has frittered away its wealth for decades. At the same time we have created a tax structure which encouraged the flight of capital and production. So today we are bereft of production capability and lack the infrastructure to compete in this century. Not investing in our future will make this situation permanent.
As you pointed out the US grew very quickly after WW2 but it did so in the absence of competition. That situation can never be repeated. However the U. S. had also invested heavily in energy infrastructure during the Great Depression. This laid the groundwork for industrial expansion which the country invested in during WW2.Thus the U.S. was the strongest industrial power in existence by 1947.
Never again will the U.S. attain such status. However failure to invest will only accelerate our decline.
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