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You Aren’t Investing In Africa—And You’re Missing Out: MFO's David Snowball Comments
Their "snapshot" of Nigeria is pretty interesting- not ONE WORD about the Boko Haram wanna-be Islamic State in the north. Kidnapping hundreds of young girls, bombing marketplaces at will, terrorizing villages and towns at random. Not ONE WORD about the complete ineffectiveness and corruption of the Nigerian "military", and their total inability to deal with the Boko Haram threats. Not ONE WORD about the rip-off of the oil sector for the benefit of the totally corrupt government hacks, and the appalling lack of the oil economy benefits trickling down to the general population. Not ONE WORD about the recent replacement of the finance minister, just about the one and only honest and competent government official.
Africa has been touted as the next big thing for decades and yet they seem to remain in place with corruption, terrorist and gangs, and many other problems for companies.
Well, I've got a little in WAFMX, frontier stuff, generally. They do a lot of distributing into the retail sector and pretty tame stuff like that. If they choose right, it could do good.
There are some wonderful wines that come out of So. Africa but I have heard that area has gone downhill too. Residents need high security due to roving gangs that burglarize the "haves".
Seriously, if you arm one group and pay them to protect you from the other group, how long is something like that liable to be stable? Myself, I'd be worried about all of them. And to tell you the truth, that's a worry that I have about the good ol' US of A, too.
Not in my lifetime, I expect, but how long can all of the good stuff go the few on the top without serious repercussion, especially since a large number of the folks on the bottom will be well armed, thanks to the NRA. Maybe the NRA is hedging their bets...
Yikes! No thanks! Some years back, T Rowe Price started an African fund. Sounded interesting, lots of interesting sales literature, Price has conservative reputation, what could go wrong? So I invested. Lost more than 50% in the blink of an eye, until I was unable to sleep at night and couldn't digest my breakfast. Sold it and took the 50%+ loss. Too risky for me. [Please don't tell me the fund has gone up 10,000% since I sold, I can't stand the pain.]
TRAMX has not had a good very recent streak. I was fortunate in a backhanded way, so I did not get in right away, in '07, when it first opened. The new(er) Fund Manager seems to know what to do. Past 5 years: +10.7% (Reuters.)
Bookshelf Third World Problems Africa has never been a poor place. For ages it has been the source of fabulous wealth for others, yet seldom for its own peoples.
Old_Joe said... Not in my lifetime, I expect, but how long can all of the good stuff go the few on the top without serious repercussion, especially since a large number of the folks on the bottom will be well armed.... Oh those rock bands,some of them were a little ahead of their time.. Rawwww
Comments
Goodluck, Jonathan. You'll need it.
There are many other places to invest.
Seriously, if you arm one group and pay them to protect you from the other group, how long is something like that liable to be stable? Myself, I'd be worried about all of them. And to tell you the truth, that's a worry that I have about the good ol' US of A, too.
Not in my lifetime, I expect, but how long can all of the good stuff go the few on the top without serious repercussion, especially since a large number of the folks on the bottom will be well armed, thanks to the NRA. Maybe the NRA is hedging their bets...
Past 5 years: +10.7% (Reuters.)
Morgan Stanley Inst Frontier Em Mkts A MFMPX Load waived widely available.
As of 9/30/2014
Africa/Middle East 58.19% Bench Mk 10.01 Catgy Ave 8.94
http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/summary?t=MFMPX®ion=usa&culture=en-US
Book review in today's W S J Copyrighted Material
Bookshelf
Third World Problems
Africa has never been a poor place. For ages it has been the source of fabulous wealth for others, yet seldom for its own peoples.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/book-review-the-fortunes-of-africa-by-martin-meredith-1417562898
Old_Joe said...
Not in my lifetime, I expect, but how long can all of the good stuff go the few on the top without serious repercussion, especially since a large number of the folks on the bottom will be well armed....
Oh those rock bands,some of them were a little ahead of their time..
Rawwww