Market Briefings (1)

This is the first of two pages of SLEC market briefings

Scroll down for briefings on:
   
Bangladesh

Bulgaria
Sofia
Plovdiv

Caribbean
Barbados
Jamaica
Trinidad & Tobago

Croatia

Czech Republic
Prague

Click for briefings on East Africa, Malaysia, Mauritius, Pakistan, Poland and South Africa

Bangladesh

BANGLADESH straddles the delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers: it is a land of floods and cyclones.

It is best known to the British for its cuisine: many United Kingdom curry houses are run by people who come from Bangladesh.

Increasingly it is also the place from where Britain’s high street clothes shops buy their stocks.

SANDY SHORE: At 75 miles, Cox's Bazar is the longest stretch of unbroken beach in the world.

The name Bangladesh means country of Bengal in the bangla language. It refers to the eastern half of the former British Indian province of Bengal, partitioned along religious lines and ceded to newly created Pakistan in 1947.

After a quarter of a century as East Pakistan and following a bloody war of independence, Bangladesh became a sovereign state in 1971. The following 20 years were peppered with famines, floods and other disasters, leading to long periods of military rule and widespread poverty.

Democracy was restored in 1991, since when the country has more than doubled its Gross Domestic Product (after adjusting for inflation) and reduced its poverty rate by 20 per cent. But Bangladesh is still a poor country: income per head in 2008 was US$520 compared with a world average of US$10,200.

Bangladesh is the seventh most populous country in the world and among the most densely populated: at 159 million its population is slightly higher than that of Russia. An overwhelmingly Islamic state, Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy and a member of international organisations such as the Commonwealth and the D-8, an association of developing states that also includes Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey.

Most of the workforce is employed on the land, growing rice, tea and mustard.

But 75 per cent of the country’s exports are garments, worth at least US$5 billion a year.

The industry employs three million people, 90 per cent of them women.

Many of the garments are exported to Britain where they help to keep the price of quality clothing competitive

WET WORK: a farmer tends rice plants in a paddy field.

Dhaka, the capital, is the commercial heart of Bangladesh. The city's middle classes drive a market for consumer goods.

The capital has historically attracted a large number of migrant workers. Hawkers, peddlers, small shopkeepers, rickshaw drivers, roadside vendors and stallholders make up a large segment of the population: rickshaw drivers alone number 400,000.

Half the workforce is employed in household and unorganised labour, but unemployment remains high at 23 per cent. In 2008 Dhaka's Gross Municipal Product (GMP) was US$78 billion. With an annual growth rate of 6.2 per cent, the GMP is projected to rise to US$215 billion by 2025.

The main commercial areas of the city are Montijheel and New Market, while Teigaon and Hazaribagh are the major industrial areas. Bashundhara-Baridhara is a developing economic area that will include high-tech industries and a large shopping mall in about five years.

Export Processing Zones have been set up to encourage the export of garments, textiles and other goods. Dhaka has two EPZ's that are home to 413 industries. Micro-credit began in Dhaka and the Nobel Prize winning Grameen Bank and BRAC have their offices in the capital.

There has been a widespread construction boom; high-rise buildings have changed the city landscape. Growth has been especially strong in finance, banking, manufacturing and services, while tourism, hotels and restaurants continue as important elements too.

According to the World Bank, poor governance and weak public institutions are among the country’s most significant obstacles to growth. The bank says problems include inefficient state-owned enterprises, mismanaged port facilities and a growth in the labour force that has outpaced jobs.

The bank also identifies problems with inefficient use of energy resources (such as natural gas), insufficient power supplies, slow implementation of economic reforms, political in-fighting and corruption.

Bangladesh has a lively media sector: it makes 80 films a year, publishes 200 daily newspapers and 1,800 periodicals, and offers a wide range of listening and viewing through its network of radio and television stations.

Cricket is the nation’s favourite sport.
The country achieved Test Match status in 2000 and will host the ICC Cricket World Cup jointly with India and Sri Lanka in 2011. Football is popular with Bangladeshis too.

HOWZAT: a game in progress at Sher-e-Bangla national cricket stadium in Mirpur Thana, a district of Dhaka.

The country has a long association with Britain. The British East India Company gained taxation rights over Bengal in 1757 and Britain retained a strong interest in the region for the following 190 years.

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Bulgaria: Sofia

SOFIA is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Bulgaria. It has a population in excess of 1.2 million, making it the 14th largest city in the European Union.

Located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of the mountain massif Vitosha, the city is the country’s administrative, cultural, economic, and educational centre.

It is one of the oldest capitals in Europe, with a history dating back to the eighth century BC when Thracians established a settlement there.

Sofia is the hub of Bulgaria's economy. Manufacturing is represented by over 800 large plants, producing such things as metal products, textiles, rubber and leather goods, printing and electronics.

The city is also the country's financial hub - home to the Bulgarian National Bank, the Bulgarian Stock Exchange and some of the country's largest commercial banks, many of which are housed in eye-catching buildings of the sort pictured.

Construction and transport are other important sectors of the economy.

Increasingly, Sofia is attracting attention as an outsourcing location for western European and American multi-nationals. It is also the headquarters for major Bulgarian and international companies operating across the whole country and elsewhere in eastern Europe.

Real estate prices have risen quickly in Sofia in recent years - by as much as 100 per cent in 2005/06. The construction industry has enjoyed a boom, with new sites popping up everywhere.

Unemployment in Sofia is low - 2.5 per cent - compared to the Bulgarian average of 7.25 per cent and to European levels of more than seven per cent.

With a well-developed infrastructure and its strategic location, Sofia is an important international crossroads.

All major forms of transport (except water) are represented in the city, which is home to eight railway stations and the national flight control centre, while three trans-European road routes cross the city.

Public transport is well-developed, reliable and important to the city's economy - a mixture of underground trains (Serdika station is pictured left), buses, trams and trolleybuses, and more than 15,000 licensed taxis.

The subway network is relatively new, starting only in the late 1990s, and its coverage is limited, but set to expand when major additions are completed later in 2008.

In the meantime, the extensive growth of car ownership - the number of vehicles registered has exceeded one million in the past five years - has brought severe congestion and air pollution to the city.

Sofia has a very large combined heat and power plant. Virtually the entire city - 900,000 homes and 5,900 business premises - are centrally heated using residual heat from electricity generation and gas- and oil-fired furnaces.

Bulgaria: Plovdiv

PLOVDIV is the second-largest city in Bulgaria.

It has a population of almost 380,000 and is the administrative centre of the Plovdiv Province in the south of the country.

It is also the largest and most important city of the historical region of Upper (or Northern) Thrace and an important centre for commerce, culture, education and transport.

Straddling the Maritsa River, the city is built on seven hills, some of which are 250 metres high.

Plovdiv is the venue for a number of annual economic and cultural events such as the International Fair.

A ten-week fair was established in 1892 as an industrial and agricultural exhibition. In its first year, it attracted exhibitors from 24 countries and 162,000 visitors.

The modern fair is the largest of its kind in south-eastern Europe, housed in an exhibition complex of 360,000 square metres and making use of 24 of the complex’s multi-functional pavilions.

The complex plays host to some 40 trade shows and fairs a year, attracting 7,000 exhibitors from 58 countries.

Plovdiv sits in the centre of a rich agricultural region and its economic development reflects that: from the beginning of the 20th century the city prospered as a place for the processing of food – including beer – tobacco and textiles.

During the period of socialist control the city's economy expanded rapidly, dominated by heavy industry - it still produces lead and zinc, heavy machinery, electronics, commercial vehicles, chemicals and cosmetics.

Plovdiv has one of the country's healthiest economies with average growth in gross domestic product of 12-13 per cent. Unemployment, at 6.5 per cent, is significantly below the national average.

Industry has been expanding again since the late 1990s, with manufacturing plants being built mainly in the municipality of Maritsa. In the past decade, the city has invested some €500 million in building new factories. It has attracted the largest electronics plant in the Balkans to the nearby village of Voivodinovo.

A demand for office space has led to the development of a 110,000 square-metre business park in the Trakiya district of the city – an investment of €68 million. Plovdiv has built trade centres, mainly in the inner city, and hypermarkets, mainly on the outskirts.

It has developed a number of cafés, craft workshops and souvenir shops in the old town and small streets in the centre, known to locals as The Trap.

Plovdiv is an international road transport hub. Three of ten pan-European corridors run through or near the city. The main airport is 12 kilometres south-east of the city. At the moment it only takes charter flights, but there are plans to modernise and expand it.

Around two thirds of the citizens have specialized secondary or higher education – that percentage has increased since 1992. The city has six universities and a number of state and private colleges.

Plovdiv’s sports complex is the largest in eastern Europe – it is situated in a palatial park to the west of the city centre and south of the Maritza River. It consists of a 55,000-seat stadium – the largest football venue in Bulgaria – with additional football fields, tennis courts and swimming pools. It also has a three kilometre rowing channel.

Our pictures (top to bottom) show:

AROUND TOWN: four views of the city.
RETAIL THERAPY: one of the city's new  trade centres.
BIG MATCH: Plovdiv's impressive sports complex.

Caribbean: Barbados

BARBADOS is an independent nation in the western Atlantic Ocean. It lies in the southern Caribbean region; part of the Lesser Antilles island-chain.

Its closest island neighbours are St. Vincent and St. Lucia to the west. To the south it borders Trinidad and Tobago - with which it now shares a fixed official maritime boundary - and the South American mainland, 270 miles south of the island.

The total land area is about 430 square kilometres, (166 square miles), and is primarily low-lying, with some higher regions in the island's interior.

The organic composition of Barbados is thought to be of non-volcanic origin and is predominantly composed of limestone-coral formed by the South American tectonic plate colliding with the Caribbean one.

The island's climate is tropical, with constant trade winds off the Atlantic Ocean serving to keep temperatures mild.

Some more undeveloped areas of the country contain tropical woodland and scrubland. Other parts of the interior which contribute to the agriculture industry are dotted with large sugarcane estates and wide, gently sloping pastures, with many good views down to the coast.

Barbados has one of the highest standards of living and literacy rates anywhere in the world. Despite its diminutive size, Barbados's human development index ranking is consistently among the top 50 - in 2006, it was ranked 31st in the world, and fourth in the Americas, behind Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico.

Historically, the economy was dependent on sugarcane cultivation and related activities, but in recent years it has diversified into the manufacturing and tourism sectors.

Offshore finance and information services have become increasingly important foreign exchange earners, and there is a healthy light manufacturing sector.

In recent years the government has been seen as business-friendly and economically sound. Since the late 1990s the island has enjoyed a boom in construction, with the development and redevelopment of hotels, office complexes, and homes.

The government continues its efforts to reduce unemployment, encourage direct foreign investment, and privatize remaining state-owned enterprises.

Unemployment has come down from around 14 per cent in the past to under 10 per cent now.

The economy contracted in 2001 and 2002 due to a dip in tourism and consumer spending and the impact of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
But the economy rebounded in 2003 and has shown consistent growth since 2004.

Traditional trading partners include Canada, the Caribbean Community (especially Trinidad and Tobago), the United Kingdom and the United States.

Business links and investment flows have become substantial: in 2003 the island received Canadian investment of C$25 billion, making Barbados one of Canada's top five destinations for foreign direct investment.

Eugene Melnyk of Toronto, Canada is said to be the island’s richest permanent resident.

Caribbean: Jamaica

JAMAICA is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (146 miles) in length and as much as 80 kilometres (50m) in width situated in the Caribbean Sea.

It is about 620 kilometres (385m) north-east of central America, 145 kilometres (90m) south of Cuba, and 190 kilometres (120m) west of the island of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated.

Its indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning either Land of Springs, or Land of Wood and Water.

Formerly a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it later became the British West Indies Crown colony of Jamaica. It is the third most populous anglophone country in the Americas, after the United States and Canada.

Jamaica is a mixed, free-market economy with state enterprises as well as private sector businesses. Major sectors of the Jamaican economy include agriculture, mining, manufacturing, tourism and financial and insurance services.

Tourism and mining are the leading foreign exchange earners. Supported by multilateral financial institutions, Jamaica has, since the early 1980s, sought to implement structural reforms aimed at fostering private sector activity and increasing the role of market forces in resource allocation.

Since the early 1990s, the government has followed a programme of economic liberalisation and stabilisation; removing exchange controls, floating the exchange rate, cutting tariffs, stabilising the Jamaican currency, reducing inflation and removing restrictions on foreign investment.

Jamaica has a wide variety of industrial and commercial activities. The aviation industry is able to perform most routine aircraft maintenance, except for heavy structural repairs. There is a considerable amount of technical support for transport and agricultural aviation.

Jamaica has a considerable amount of industrial engineering, light manufacturing, including metal fabrication, metal roofing, and furniture manufacturing.

Food and beverage processing, glassware manufacturing, computer software and data processing, printing and publishing, insurance underwriting, music and recording, and advanced education activities can be found in the larger urban areas.

The Jamaican construction industry is entirely self-sufficient, with professional technical standards and guidance.

Since the first quarter of 2006, the economy of Jamaica has undergone a period of staunch growth. With inflation for the 2006 calendar year down to six per cent and unemployment down to 8.9 per cent, the nominal GDP grew by 2.9 per cent.

An investment programme in island transportation and utility infrastructure and gains in the tourism, mining, and service sectors all contributed to this figure.

In 2006, Jamaica became a founding member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its single market economy (CSME).

MARITIME HERITAGE: Our picture shows fishing boats and bauxite cargo ships sharing the same waterway near Alligator Pond, Jamaica.

Caribbean: Trinidad and Tobago

THE REPUBLIC of Trinidad and Tobago is a group of 23 islands in the southern Caribbean, lying north-east of Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles.

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two main islands; Tobago is much smaller, comprising about six per cent of the republic’s area and four per cent of its population.

The islands enjoy a tropical climate, where plants and flowers grow in abundance including the vivid orange Chaconia, the republic's national flower (pictured).

Trinidad was named by Christopher Columbus for the Holy Trinity of the Christian Church - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Tobago’s cigar-like shape gave it its Spanish name (cabaco, tavaco, tabaco) and possibly its Amerindian names of Aloubaéra (black conch) and Urupaina (big snail).

Informally, Trinidadians and Tobagonians are referred to collectively as Trinbagonians or Trinis. The country is famous for its pre-Lenten carnival and as the birthplace of steel-pan, calypso and limbo.

Unlike most of the English-speaking Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago is primarily an industrialised country. The capital city, Port-of-Spain, is a candidate to host the headquarters of a permanent secretariat for the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Trinidad's economy is strongly influenced by the petroleum industry, but tourism and manufacturing are also important. Tourism is a growing sector, although not proportionately as significant as in many other Caribbean islands. The economy benefits from low inflation and a trade surplus.

Agricultural products include sugar cane, citrus and cocoa with sugar cane continuing to be a prominent crop of Trinidad.

Long-term growth looks promising, as Trinidad and Tobago continues to develop its hydrocarbon, petrochemical, and metals sectors - with significant increases in exports - and to diversify further into services and tourism.

Trinidad and Tobago's recent strong growth has led to trade surpluses over the past four years, despite high import levels resulting from industrial expansion and increased consumer demand.

The debt service ratio was just 4.7 per cent in 2004, falling to 2.5 per cent in 2005. In 2006, unemployment fell to five per cent from 6.7 per cent in 2005.

The petrochemical sector, including methanol, ammonia, urea, and liquefied natural gas (LNG), has continued to grow and has experienced a new burst of activity with the resumption of full-scale production of all existing facilities.

Natural gas production continues to expand and should meet the needs of the many industrial plants coming on stream in the next three years.

Reductions in subsidies for state enterprises have contributed to fiscal soundness and lent credibility to the government's divestment programme.

Companies all or partially divested include the National Fisheries Company, BWIA West Indies Airways (now Caribbean Airlines), National Flour Mills (NFM) and the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission.

Some companies presently building large industrial plants at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate in central Trinidad are concerned that the existing water supply will not be adequate. The government is addressing this problem with the construction of a desalination plant.

Infrastructure improvement, especially rural roads and bridges, rural electrification and telephone service, and drainage and sewerage, are among the government's priorities, and receive support from multilateral development agencies and the European Union.

Cellular telephone services are widespread and have been a major area of growth for several years. Digicel and Laqtel were granted licenses in 2005, breaking the monopoly of a company jointly owned by the government and Cable and Wireless.

The Internet has come into widespread use, but service can be slow at peak times - the government has been slow to open up this market to competition.

Croatia

CROATIA has weathered the global financial crisis reasonably well, but it faces a challenging 2010/11, largely due to its high level of foreign debt.

A crescent-shaped country of 4.7 million people – 90 per cent Croats – this south-east European state faces Italy across the Adriatic. The economy is service based (74 per cent), with some industry (20 per cent) and a small amount of agriculture (six per cent).

TOURIST TRAP: Brela on the Adriatic coast is one of Croatia's longest-established and most attractive holiday destinations.

Its membership of the European Union has been delayed by border disputes with Slovenia. Now both countries have agreed to set aside their differences for future mediation by Brussels, Croatia is expected to join the EU, on January 1, 2012 – at the same time as Iceland.

As part of its accession, Croatia is required to restructure much of its debt, mainly in relation to its loss-making shipyards. It is engaged in a rigorous programme of privatisation, but a significant proportion of the economy – 40 per cent of gross domestic product – is still state-controlled.

Croats have lived in this part of Europe since the fourth century; they were united with Hungary – later the Austro-Hungarian Empire – from the early 1100s until the end of the First World War.

At that point an independent Croatia co-founded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

WORLD HERITAGE: Croatia boasts seven of the coveted, United Nations endorsed sites, one of which is the old city of Dubrovnik

Annexed by Germany in 1941, Croatia subsequently became a member of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia as part of Second World War reparations in 1945.

Following nationalist agitation it was granted semi-autonomy in 1974. It finally declared independence in June 1991, sparking a particularly bloody four-year conflict with its former Yugoslav partners.

It is now a single-chamber parliamentary democracy with an elected president as head of state. It is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe; the World Trade Organisation; and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

In the past 15 years Croatia has attempted to repair the economic and structural damage done by the war. It is in the process of rebuilding its tourist industry, a major casualty of the conflict, and has so far succeeded in climbing to 18th in the league of the world’s most popular places to visit.

And it has plenty to offer the tourist: a land of lakes, rolling hills and densely-wooded mountains with more than 1,000 islands hugging a rocky, sun-drenched coast. The country boasts eight national parks and seven world heritage sites, including the old city of Dubrovnik.

Croatia is proud of its education system.

It has produced three Nobel Prize winners, and continues to produce well educated and innovative workers who enjoy an enviable reputation, in particular, for their prowess in software engineering.

SEAT OF LEARNING: The University of Zagreb

Primary schooling is free and organised in eight grades from age six to 15; secondary education covers the next three years and is followed by an academic course at a university or a vocational one at a polytechnic.

Sport is an important Croatian pastime – both watching and playing. Football is the most popular with spectators. The national team is rated tenth in the world and won the bronze medal in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Tennis is important too. Goran Ivanisevic, winner of the 2001 Wimbledon Men’s Singles, is one of the country's most popular sports personalities. And Croatia's Davis Cup team won the prestigious international competition in 2005.

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Czech Republic: Prague

Prague has been the political, cultural, and economic centre of the Czech state for over 1,100 years and is now the capital city of the Czech Republic.

Straddling the Vltava River in central Bohemia, the city is home to more than 1.2 million people, while its greater metropolitan hinterland has a population of over 1.9 million – collectively that’s similar to south London (three million).

Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe with examples from all major architectural periods. It is the sixth most visited city in Europe.

Since 1992, the centre has been a United Nations World Heritage Site – its ancient castle is the largest of its kind in the world.

King Vladislav II first bridged the Vltava River in 1170, building the Judith Bridge – that crumbled in 1342, but was later replaced on the original foundations by the Charles Bridge, which stands to this day.

In the 15th century Prague strengthened its role as a merchant city – in the late 16th century it became the seat of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II and the capital of European culture.

In 1689 a great fire devastated Prague, but that only served to spur a renovation of the city.

The economic rise continued through the following century and by 1771 the city had 80,000 inhabitants.

Many of these were merchants who, together with noblemen of German, Spanish and Italian origin, enriched the city with a host of palaces, churches and gardens.

The armistice that ended World War I created Czechoslovakia. Prague was chosen as its capital and the castle as the seat of its president. Prague was a thriving city with highly developed industry. By 1930 the population had risen to 850,000.

In March 1939 Hitler ordered Germany's army into the city and from the castle proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia to be a German protectorate. Three years later Prague was witness to the assassination of a powerful Nazi – Reinhard Heydrich – for whom Hitler exacted a bloody reprisal.

Towards the end of the war the city suffered bombing raids by the United States Air Force, killing over 1,000 people and destroying hundreds of historical landmarks.

Prague revolted against Nazi occupation in May 1945, but four days later the Soviet Army entered the city. In the aftermath of the war, most of Prague’s indigenous Germans either fled or was expelled.

Prague was a city in the military and political control of the Soviet Union, but since the fall of the Iron Curtain it has become one of Europe's most popular tourist destinations.

It boasts one of the world's most varied collections of architecture, from Baroque and Renaissance to Art Nouveau and Cubist.

Prague’s gross domestic product per capita is more than double that of the Czech Republic as a whole, at 33,784 (purchasing power parity) – 157.1 per cent of the EU average, making it one of the 12 richest EU regions. The city is home to the European headquarters of many international companies.

Since the late 1990s, Prague has become a popular location for international film productions, including Hollywood blockbusters Mission Impossible and Blade II. A combination of stunning architecture, reasonable cost and an existing motion picture infrastructure continues to be highly attractive.

Prague enjoys an integrated transport system including a metro with 54 stations; a tram network; buses; a funicular to Petrin Hill with its Eiffel Tower look-alike; and three ferries.

All the services are run by a single company and have common ticketing.

There is also a commuter rail network serving the metropolitan hinterland.

The city is the hub of the Czech railway system, with services to all parts of the country and abroad. Prague has two international railway stations.

Ruzyne international is the biggest airport in the Czech Republic and one of the busiest in central and eastern Europe. It is the centre of operations for Czech Airlines and for low-cost carriers Sky Europe and Smart Wings.

There are hundreds of concert halls, galleries and cinemas in the city. Prague hosts international music festivals, including one each in spring and autumn and another that's specific to the organ.

It also hosts a number of annual film festivals, a writers’ festival and ones devoted to fringe activities and Roma culture.

Prague boasts the second-largest sports stadium in the world. The city is the venue for many sports events, including an international marathon, world hockey and UEFA league and cup soccer matches featuring Slavia Prague and Sparta Prague.

Pictures (top to bottom):

FAIRY TALE: the city by night with the castle looking over it.
ANCIENT CROSSING: the Charles Bridge for pedestrians only.
MAIN STREAM: the country's longest river, the Vlatava, passes through the city.
FINE DESIGN: the Dancing House is one example of the city's wide range of architecture.
FAST TRAIN: one of the city's modern Metro stations.
SPORTING LIFE: Eden Stadium is the home of UEFA soccer side Slavia Prague.

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