With the world poised at a number of critical crossroads—between recession and growth, war and peace, up and down markets, optimism and pessimism—this is the `write' time to take up the case of `Emerging Markets'. The global economy grew strongly in the first half of 2007, in spite of turbulence in financial markets clouding its prospects. While the 2007 forecast has been little affected, the baseline projection for 2008 has been reduced by almost a half percentage point in the October 2007 World Economic Outlook Update. This would still leave global growth at a solid 4.75% supported by generally sound fundamentals and strong momentum in emerging market economies.

Risks to the outlook, however, are firmly on the downside, centered around the concern that financial market strains could deepen and trigger a more pronounced global slowdown. Additional risks to the outlook include potential inflationary pressures, volatile oil markets, and the impact of strong foreign exchange inflows on emerging markets. At the same time, longer-term issues such as population aging, increasing resistance to globalization and global warming are a source of concern.

According to the World Bank, the five biggest emerging markets are China, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Russia. Other countries that are also considered as emerging markets include Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Poland, Turkey and South Korea. These countries made a critical transition from a developing economy to an emerging market. Each of them is important as an individual market and the combined effect of the group as a whole will change the face of global economics and politics.

The Analyst Magazine, Emerging Markets, Arvind Sonmale, MD & CEO, Global Trade Finance Ltd, Global economy, financial markets, International Finance Corporation, World Bank's, Emerging Market Economy, EME, International monetary fund, IMF, Gross domestic products, GDP.