Investing in International Markets Corruption & Political Risk
(International Poitics - Risk & Threat)
Investing or doing business in foreign markets especially frontier or emerging markets has always been inherently not without risk. The risks in investing in these markets are manifold - political risk, transfer risk, economic risk, exchange rate risk, criminality, threats, corruption to name but a few.
Just take one example, political risk. As a businessman you need to know that any investment in a particular country is not going to be compromised by political considerations. Specific problems such as government instability, currency inconvertibility, the possibility of nationalization and expropriation, even military control. In addition to this, political risk analysis looks at social conditions such as crime levels and corruption, both governmental and criminal.
One should note however that political risk is sometimes hard to quantify based on limited case studies and sample sizes when researching an individual country. What is clear however is the outcome of any political risk could severely deplete any investment return or as a last resort remove the ability to withdraw your capital from any investment. And this is just a very brief snapshot of political risk!
Another area of concern is corruption. Foreign investors and businesses in certain parts of the world are frequent targets for corrupt practices. One area of particular concern is true in the case for SME’s operating in the formal private sector. Furthermore the ethical behaviour of local companies may be fairly poor and constitutes a competitive disadvantage for doing business. Particular areas of concerns regarding corruption in certain countries are the Judiciary, Police, Land & Tax Administration, Customs and Licences, Infrastructure and Public Utilities sectors.
To assess the risk and business planning for your business or organization, I have put together country profile packages which have been forensically researched with past and current up to date data. For any target country of interest, these profiles will identify and determine the causes and sources of any related risks associated with your particular sector(s) of interest and will be highlighted in the full and detailed country profile report which will be compiled for your consideration.
The active list of countries currently being maintained, researched and worked upon are listed below and are updated on a weekly basis.
Saudi Arabia, Russian Federation, India, Republic of Korea, Venezuela, Kazakhstan
Ukraine, Egypt, Pakistan, Brazil, Albania, United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan
Georgia, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh
Nigeria, Argentina, Senegal, Ghana, Turkey
Other countries are in the pipeline for analysis and further development as real time information comes in.
