Market commentary
Market Commentary

If COVID is bad for developed countries, it must be worse for frontier ones, right... Right?

By Andrew Brudenell

A successful investment in Frontier Markets requires foresight, patience and timing. However, the effort is well rewarded. Investors need only reference Emerging Markets meteoric rise and accompanying stellar stock market performance when they underwent a similar early stage development. A function of their success though, Emerging Markets no longer play the same role in a global portfolio and instead are much more entwined with global capital sentiment and flows. Frontier Markets have taken their place as one of the most compelling ways to boost and diversify the risk adjusted returns for a global portfolio. The perception that if COVID is bad for developed countries it must therefore be worse for frontier countries, is unsubstantiated. This is true whether one looks from a societal, macroeconomic or policy perspective. Frontier Markets recent lagged price performance is therefore not commensurate with the fundamental reality on the ground. Investors should grasp opportunities to exploit such market overreactions with both hands to benefit from the compelling long term case for investment.

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