globalEDGE Blog - By Author: Manesha Sampath

With booming agricultural and mining industries, Latin America has seen economic and human development increase exponentially in the past decade.  While human capital and resources attracted foreign investors for a past few years, lately it has been the plentiful sunshine that catches the eyes of many venture capitalists.

Chile in particular has caught the “green” bug.  While imported fossil fuel accounts for more than 60% of the county’s electricity production, hydroelectric and solar power plants are in high demand by the Chilean government.  With the cost of solar power technology falling, Chile’s quest for affordable renewable energy is not too difficult to obtain.  A trade deal with the world’s leading solar power technology manufacturer, China, is in the works.

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Social media has become the dominant mode of communication for the past few years.  This medium for interactive dialogue has not only augmented the rapid exchange of ideas, but also the global economy as a whole.  It has recently been in the news for increasing sales, creating jobs, and positively impacting overall economic of nations.

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Coface, a world leader in domestic and international trade receivable management, is hosting their annual Country Risk Meeting at the Sentry Center in New York City on Thursday, May 10, 2012.  Featured speakers include business leaders, economists, and forecasting analysts discussing the short-term economic situation on a region by region basis in North America for the rest of the 2012 calendar year.  They will focus on hot spots, booming regions, and the global economic power bases.  It is a wonderful event that spotlights major international trade and investment opportunities in today’s business arena.

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Parisian influence is growing in Asia as French citizens pour into Hong Kong looking for economic hotspots in luxury retail, commercial and residential real estate, and business services. Recently, World Economic Forum rated Hong Kong as the world’s most developed economy.  The country’s booming economy, coupled with Europe’s debt crisis, has significantly increased the rate at which French citizens are immigrating to Hong Kong.  Since 2006, the French community in Hong Kong has grown by more than 60%.  But Hong Kong is not the only country where Westerners are flocking; mainland China, Thailand, Singapore, and India have been expanding rapidly as their markets open up.

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For the past few weeks, Western states have not only imposed sanctions on Iran, but also convinced many Asian countries to do the same.  These sanctions are an economically crippling bargaining technique to pressure Iranian officials into discontinuing their uranium enrichment program, which American and European officials claim to be a nuclear weapons program with malicious intent but Iranian officials claim to peaceful and a national right.  Furthermore, many financial institutions that interact closely with Iran’s central bank have also been targeted.  The assets of Iran’s central bank are currently frozen that are linked to Tehran.

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The storm caused by the European Debt Crisis has loomed like a dark cloud over much of the world.  But certain sectors of the economy, the transport manufacturing industry in particular, have weathered the turbulent markets.  It is the rise in purchasing manager indexes for the United Kingdom, Switzerland, China, India, and Australia, coupled with the decrease in Germany's unemployment that make economists suggest a boom in the export of cars and machinery for the coming year.

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Last month, Hong Kong was reported to be the world’s most developed financial market by the World Economic Forum, an independent international organization.  The responsive business environment and financial stability most industries found in this special administrative region of China, along with its efficiency, size of banking, and other financial services catapulted Hong Kong to the top, surpassing the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.  The rise of Hong Kong has been attributed to non-banking services, like IPOs and insurance, which offer long-term yields rather than the shortsighted investments that Western financial markets tend to favor.

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The deals and sales offered during this year’s holiday season captured us all, but companies have been shopping as well. In fact, Japan’s multinational corporations seem to have gone on global shopping spree. This past year, Japanese companies spent a record $80 billion on approximately 620 foreign companies. These international investments could be seen as not only a sign of economic strength, but also as an indication of domestic weakness.

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