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Beat the blues in Brazil

Jaimie Kanwar

Investing in emerging markets is one way to beat current economic uncertainty, argues one expert...

According to Jonathan Garner of Morgan Stanley, UK property, the stock market and even traditional safe havens like gold have suffered since the beginning of credit crunch and many investors are searching for more profitable alternatives.

Mr Garner commented: “The best strategy could be to buy land and property in emerging economies. I have been recommending to my clients that they consider investing in growing markets such as Brazil for a number of reasons, the chief of which is the credit crunch has very limited relevance to many emerging markets. Not only are the banks in good shape, you've also got households that are not overextended”.

Many overseas investors already appear to have spotted the potential offered by the South American country's economy, as figures published by the Central Bank showed that foreign direct investment grew from $18.8 billion in 2006 to $34.6 billion last year.

In a recent interview, Pascal Lamy, the director-general of the World Trade Organisation highlighted the 'growing economic power' of emerging market countries such as Brazil, China, and India and praised their status as 'crucial counter-weights' to the slowdown in the rich countries.