All Things Jim Rogers

Below is the second part of a three part interview with Investors Chronicle during Jim’s recent appearance in the U. K.. Notes of the first part can be found here, and the third will be up as soon as its available.

Why live in Asia….?

“The 19th century belonged to Britain, the world’s foremost imperial power. The 20th century belonged to America, the land of the free. The 21st century belongs to Asia, and more specifically, China”

“I like being in Asia, it’s very dynamic, everything works, it’s got very high standards”

How did Jim Rogers spot the potential in Asia?

“I came across this guy out in the desert, he started out by selling bread to farmers at 5 o’clock in the morning. By the time I across him, he had a a restaurant and a little hotel,” he says of a 1988 motorcycle trip to the country. “We were told they were all a load of bloodthirsty Communists, yet here was this guy with this little empire and he was making lots of money. Next time I went back, in 1990, he had two hotels and two restaurants…it was clear to me that there were a lot of stories like this.”

But, isn’t difficult for a foreigner to invest in China directly?

“You cay buy exactly the same share outside of China that you can buy inside it, but at a discount….That discount is going to disappear some day, because some day, you’re not going to have all these crazy different classes of shares.”

Why did Jim leave other emerging markets and stick to China?

“I had sold out of all other emerging markets…because there were all these MBAs on airplanes flying round the world looking for new emerging markets. They were all being over-exploited.”

Is Jim still looking at other emerging markets? You bet he is…..

I’m just sitting and watching because during this period of forced liquidation, some of these emerging markets are going to go down by more than they should simply because they went up more than they should have.”

What’s on his watchlist?

Taiwan- “I’ve never bought Taiwan before in my life, but there is peace now”

Myanmar- “It’s got 70 or 80 million disciplined, educated people, lots of natural resources, and it sits right between India and China. What better location is there than that?”

Africa- “There are huge opportunities in Africa. If there were six of me, two of me would be in Africa now. Angola is going to be the largest producer of oil in Africa sometime within the next year or two, overtaking Nigeria. Tanzania is making dramatic changes, too”

And Russia? I don’t think so….

“They’re getting their expertise and capital out of Russia, whereas the Chinese are pouring money and expertise back into China…The Chinese see the opportunity. In Russia, they see the problems,” he remarks, concluding that “I wouldn’t put anyone into Russia right now.”

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