11

Acronyms & Synonyms

BRIC, PIIGS, N-11… more acronyms are now coming up, apparently with the objective of making them synonymous to the sweet smell of money. Brazil, Russia, India & China, are still holding up as growth regions since the conception of the golden bricks five years ago. The European pigs are not faring as well, with Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece & Spain, severely impacted by the financial turmoil, and without doubt, being down-graded from golden pigs to dirty pigs.

N-11, being a basket of developing economies, again, coined by Goldman Sachs, further to its highly acclaimed coinage of BRIC, encompasses Philippines, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, S. Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey, & Vietnam. To me, on Main Street, it is difficult to find vast commonalities on these 11 countries across different continents, but for Wall Street, N-11 is probably another investment concept that can help bankers lure potential investors so that they can earn humungous bonuses. N-11 is a synonym to fat pay-check.