Emerging economies – the missing link
Jinfo Blog

18th August 2009

By Tim Buckley Owen

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Emerging economies continue to excite information providers – now Thomson Reuters announces that it has widened its coverage of market data for four emerging market stock exchanges and the Dow Jones Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges Index. Although aimed at the global transaction community rather than researchers, it all adds to the body of evidence that emerging markets are the next big thing as far as the information industry is concerned. But it’s a far from uniform picture. Thomson Reuters’ announcement covers exchanges in Hanoi, Ukraine, Sarajevo, Prague, Brazil and a range of middle eastern and central European centres (http://digbig.com/5baenf) – and previous VIP LiveWire coverage from Diana Nutting adds data on Islamic, Arabic and Indian markets to the mix (http://www.vivavip.com/go/e22500 http://www.vivavip.com/go/e21020 http://www.vivavip.com/go/e19659). Missing from the equation thus far is sub-Saharan Africa. Rich in economic potential, many of its countries nevertheless suffer from endemic social and political turmoil and – frequently – severe infrastructural challenges as well. Global development agency representatives suggest that perhaps 80% of African computers are virus infected in some way; while cost, limited bandwidth and slow connections make it impossible to download virus protection software. The result – according to a recent Guardian article on Ethiopia by Chris Michael – is crucial development plans lost, harvests failed, children dead (http://digbig.com/5baeng). Add to that the inherent unreliability of much of the region’s underlying economic data and you have a potentially lethal mix. So now the International Monetary Fund is helping 22 sub-Saharan African countries improve the quality, coverage and dissemination of key statistics. Building on previous IMF work funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development, the Fund has been adopting a modular approach, bringing together countries that face similar challenges. The results thus far have been promising: a monetary statistics module benefiting Kenya and Namibia; a Ugandan balance of payments module presented to six other countries; improvements to national accounts in Nigeria and The Gambia (http://digbig.com/5baenh). Plenty of business information providers see the opportunity to make a killing out of emerging markets. For reasons of self-interest if nothing else, they should actively support initiatives like these.

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