Share this postEmerging Market SkepticEmerging Market Links + The Week Ahead (December 23, 2024)Copy linkFacebookEmailNotesMoreEmerging Market Links + The Week Ahead (December 23, 2024)Qatar stands up to the EU's ESG demands, India is worse than you think, China GDP growth now lags Asia, Brazil’s fiscal shortfall/currency plunge, EM stock picks & the week ahead for emerging markets.Dec 24, 20241Share this postEmerging Market SkepticEmerging Market Links + The Week Ahead (December 23, 2024)Copy linkFacebookEmailNotesMore2Share

The National has reported that Qatar’s threat to stop EU gas sales over stringent EU sustainability and reporting regulations (aka the so-called Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)) could set precedent for other energy-exporting nations. In other words, countries are now starting to stand up to the EU (good luck with your windmills & solar panels OR getting gas out of Mr. Putin…) and their ESG or “sustainability” demands...

Finally, Zerohedge has an interesting article (India: It's Worse Than You Think) based on a speech available on YouTube (PFP272 | Jayant Bhandari: “Understanding India” (PFS 2024)) by Jayant Bhandari who bluntly stated:

I had first returned to India with the idea of improving it, but after 11 years, I realized that India was a sinking ship, with worsening and increasingly shameless corruption, degraded people, and a society that was falling apart. I had never met an honest bureaucrat or politician…

… I have never (I am using the word advisedly) had a contract honored in India. When you bribe, you must do so skillfully. If you have an opposing side in a legal fight, the judge and the police will take bribes from both sides. Your lawyer will collude with the opposing side and with the judge right in front of you to maximize bribes. This might sound unbelievable, but that does not change reality.

The closest I have been to India was Sri Lanka (which I largely found to be a very pleasant country to visit…) - readers/listeners to his talk can decide for themselves whether what he says about India and Indians (and hence any investment implications…) is accurate or not…