Ones to watch, carefully
ACCORDING to the forecasts of the Economist Intelligence Unit, the world’s five fastest-growing economies in 2014 will be South Sudan, Mongolia, Macau, Sierra Leone and Turkmenistan, as seen in the video above. Notably, China is absent. In fact, for the first time since The World in... started publishing forecasts of the fastest-growing economies in 2004, the world’s most populous country has dropped out of the top dozen.
Nevertheless, China is Mongolia’s biggest export market. Mongolia’s mines (not its large numbers of goats) will help push GDP growth to 15% in 2014. Reports suggest the country’s mineral deposits may be worth more than $1.3 trillion: an exciting possibility for Mongolia’s 2.8m people.
Macau also depends on China for its prosperity. As a special administrative region, it entices tourists bent on gambling, many of them Chinese. Punters will wager around $50 billion in 2014, nearly ten times more than a decade earlier and far more than in Las Vegas.
South Sudan's position at the top of the list is controversial in many ways. Its forecasted 35% growth this year may take it only some of the way back to levels of prosperity it enjoyed before oil production stopped in 2012. But the world’s youngest independent country is currently in turmoil: a rupture in mid-December between President Salva Kiir and his former vice-president, Riek Machar, has triggered violence. Neighbouring countries are trying to make the two sides talk. But the starting date for a ceasefire, negotiated in Ethiopia on December 31st, has not yet been agreed upon. Rebel troops are also massing in Jonglei state, complicating the situation. If Mr Machar’s intentions are to fight over South Sudan’s oil production infrastructure, the country may see slower growth, and much destruction, in 2014.
Video Link: http://www.economist.com/blogs/theworldin2014/2014/01/global-growth
Nevertheless, China is Mongolia’s biggest export market. Mongolia’s mines (not its large numbers of goats) will help push GDP growth to 15% in 2014. Reports suggest the country’s mineral deposits may be worth more than $1.3 trillion: an exciting possibility for Mongolia’s 2.8m people.
Macau also depends on China for its prosperity. As a special administrative region, it entices tourists bent on gambling, many of them Chinese. Punters will wager around $50 billion in 2014, nearly ten times more than a decade earlier and far more than in Las Vegas.
South Sudan's position at the top of the list is controversial in many ways. Its forecasted 35% growth this year may take it only some of the way back to levels of prosperity it enjoyed before oil production stopped in 2012. But the world’s youngest independent country is currently in turmoil: a rupture in mid-December between President Salva Kiir and his former vice-president, Riek Machar, has triggered violence. Neighbouring countries are trying to make the two sides talk. But the starting date for a ceasefire, negotiated in Ethiopia on December 31st, has not yet been agreed upon. Rebel troops are also massing in Jonglei state, complicating the situation. If Mr Machar’s intentions are to fight over South Sudan’s oil production infrastructure, the country may see slower growth, and much destruction, in 2014.
Video Link: http://www.economist.com/blogs/theworldin2014/2014/01/global-growth
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