The Mekong Miracle?

Posted on 17 September 2012 by Douglas Chadwick

We have at best a sickly financial and economic situation in the West. Governments and Banks say they are making changes and improvements to recover the situation, but we all know that this is mostly window dressing and in time it falls by the wayside. So where can investors  turn to make a decent return on their money. Fifteen to twenty years ago this was the BRIC economies, for a small part of your portfolio. Not so for the last few years where Brazil, Russia, India and China would have cost you dearly.
 
Well perhaps it's still worth looking to the Far Eastern Developing nations. To be precise the Greater Mekong region. The countries involved are Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos - all members of the ASEAN Free Trade agreement. Originally, from the mid-nineties onwards, huge sums of money were pumped into this region to encourage growth alongside China and India. Now they progress independently of these two ugly sisters. The Greater Mekong region is self sufficient for oil and gas. It has in excess of 560 million people and an economy greater than $2 trillion. Today to make itself a stand alone region it is investing enormous sums into its infrastructure, encouraging export and building its internal consumer market.
 
The American government recognises the strategic position of this region as it's sandwiched between India and China. No doubt in return for American Military bases in the area it will make sure that this ASEAN miracle enjoys continuing success. So it is a question of hunting down those funds and ETFs that are actively and successfully investing in the Greater Mekong region. These will probably be using the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), the largest trading market in the region. Saltydog will be looking to identify and report on these investments.