China leads global emerging markets boom in 2017: summit

DUBAI - Experts at the ongoing Middle East Investment Summit 2017 in Dubai said Monday that China is leading the global emerging markets boom in 2017, which is expected to see combined GDP rise of 4.6 percent.

Renowned Singapore-based fund manager Mark Mobius, Executive Chairman at Temepleton said here on Monday he expects the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of 70 emerging markets globally to rise by 4.6 percent in 2017 compared to 1.8 percent in the developed world, with China taking a lead based on a rising middle class and the growing Internet usage.

Delivering a key note at the two-day Middle East Investment Summit 2017 organised by UK research firm Terrapinn which started today, Mobius said "China's population has a 22 percent world share in internet usage, its young tech-savvy population and the fast expanding tech-firms like e-commerce giant Alibaba Group are only two factors why we are bullish for China."

Online sales in China were outshining sales in the developing world, said Mobius. Major western consumer goods giants like Dutch-British firm Unilever "are technically emerging markets firms as Unilever generates 60 percent of its revenues in the emerging world, with China again taking a lead."

"Alibaba's recorded sales revenue on the China's shopping festival Singles Day, which takes place always on the 11th of November in China, reached $17.8 billion in 2016."

He urged investors "not to look at the value of Chinese imports, but at the quantity." While China's iron ore and oil imports for example declined, "both the quantity of imported iron ore and oil both rose constantly in the last two years. It is the quantity what counts, not the value as newspapers often suggest in their reports," he said.

On market timing, Mobius said "you should invest into emerging market shares when you have money. The GDP value gap between emerging and developed countries is still huge and as an investor you can only benefit from the low and middle income economies catching-up-race which will last for next decades."