Rule of law ‘critically important’ to BRICS success

Russia will chair the BRICS’ seventh summit in July this yearHere is my latest column for IBA Global Insight:

When it was first coined in 2001, the term ‘BRIC’ seemed little more than a quirky acronym. Since then, the term has quickly become universal shorthand for the emerging markets’ ascent in the global economy.

Brazil, Russia, India and China – and South Africa since it joined the fold in 2010 – have all come a long way since former Goldman Sachs Chief Economist Jim O’Neill first spotted their potential 14 years ago. Despite riding out the global financial crisis remarkably well, the mighty BRICS have not been left completely unscathed. The average growth rate of each country has slipped by more than two percentage points over the past decade.

At a recent IBA conference, From BRICS to MINT… and Beyond!, O’Neill said that China was the only one of the original BRICS that hadn’t disappointed him, clocking an average growth rate so far this decade of eight per cent. Although he acknowledged weaker commodity prices were partly to blame for poorer performances in Brazil and Russia, he maintained his view that rule of law is vital for economic success. If all these countries can ‘succeed in doing all the things that are necessary for rule of law, then they’re going to get somewhere’, he says.

Published on 15-06-15. Read on here

Argentina’s debt tango

Beatrice MurchHere is my latest column for IBA Global Insight:

The threat of default has loomed large again for Argentina in recent months. It went right down to the wire on 30 July when it became clear that a deal wasn’t going to be reached. For the eighth time in its history the country slipped grudgingly into default, making it one of the world’s most recidivist sovereign defaulters.

First, some context: The payment problems this time stem from Argentina’s mega-default in late 2001 when the country defaulted on $95bn in government bonds. Holders of around 92 per cent of those bonds accepted restructurings worth about $0.30 on the dollar, but the remaining bondholders – a group of US-based hedge funds led by billionaire Paul Singer’s Elliott Management – refused to accept the restructuring, demanded payment in full for old bonds that weren’t exchanged and sued for full payment.

A decade-long legal battle ensued and in July President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s government refused to abide by the decisions of the US courts and pay the holdouts, effectively locking Argentina out of the global capital markets altogether. Thus it was with good reason that tensions were high on 30 July as the culmination of the lengthy dispute saw US District Court Judge Thomas Griesa side with the hedge funds and duly freeze a $539m interest payment from Argentina, ordering the country not to make any payments on new bonds before it paid for its previous payments, plus interest.

Published on 06-10-14. Read on here