Mavi Boncuk | The former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill will forever be associated with the term BRIC, which he coined as an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China (now commonly bracketed with South Africa to make BRICS). The term caught on and has been common parlance for a decade now. And now O’Neill, though no longer with Goldman, has a new one: the MINT countries, Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey - as emerging economic giants.
"...But beyond all of this is the broader point of whether being the next BRICs is a good thing anyway. O’Neill, of course, is painting an economic picture that will take shape over decades and generations; his observations should be seen in that very long-term light. But for ordinary investors, perhaps hoping to invest in the stock markets of these countries, it is worth noting that BRIC equities have lagged the developed world for several years now and are very likely to do so again in 2014 (see my most recent article on the outlook for BRICs). All four BRICs face considerable economic challenges of one kind or another, and even when they’re growing fast, that does not necessarily equate to good growth in stock markets. The picture may be worse still in the debt markets, with emerging market debt considered to be particularly vulnerable to tapering in the US." FORBES