FSG’s analysts are constantly speaking with senior executives in emerging markets and staying on top of the latest headlines from around the world. In this week’s Emerging Market View, our analysts have highlighted several articles for the emerging market business executive:
Shishir Sinha, Senior Analyst for Asia-Pacific at FSG recently blogged about the Manufacturing Attractiveness Index of the ASEAN Countries, detailing the rise of Southeast Asia as a manufacturing hub for MNCs. The increasing cost of manufacturing in countries such as China have led MNCs to look for alternative locations within ASEAN, but what about developed counties like the United States? As reported this week in Bloomberg Businessweek, manufacturing in the U.S. is surprisingly competitive. Ryan Brier, Head of Latin America research for FSG notes that, “The relative cost of manufacturing in different countries across the globe is shifting rapidly, challenging conventional wisdom about where to produce and pushing multinationals’ supply chains to become increasingly flexible.” Of course a main component of selecting a manufacturing hub depends on the cost, which is why it’s important to monitor such things as the financial exchange rates.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Turkey’s Central Bank cut interest rates to bolster economic growth. According to FSG’s Head of EMEA research, Martina Bozadzhieva, “The interest rate cut may stimulate lending, but will undermine investor confidence in the independence of the central bank. As a result, it might make the exchange rate more volatile and susceptible to both internal and external instability in the next several months.” For additional information on how to better manage financial volatility in your markets, FSG clients should review our quarterly reports on currency volatility, or read a previous blog post on how to avoid currency losses in emerging markets.
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