THE CHINA SYNDROME

by Faysal Badran October 23, 2005

written by Faysal Badran October 23, 2005

Leave it to the mainstream media, from CNBC to Newsweek, to hammer a particular investment theme when it’s all a bit too late. As they became enthused with the “Tiger Miracle” of the late 1980s, just before the collapse, and as cover stories raged about technology investment, just before it took an 80% haircut, now China is all the rage. You can’t escape it. Intuitively it may even make “sense”. After all the demographics are on your side. The bells of joy regarding China have been ringing for the last three to five years, to the point that one wonders, is this the modern day El Dorado? Will Chinese growth ever slow down? Should I not be investing in what is being billed as the “next economic superpower”? Everything ranging from booming oil prices to the collapsing prices of electronics is being linked to the perma-growth story that is China.

Faysal Badran

Faysal Badran is the head of NCB Capital, a Saudi-based wealth and asset management firm. He oversees the company’s regional and international equities, global fixed income, money market, and alternative investments. Before joining NCB Capital, Badran spent five years at its parent company, National Commercial Bank (NCB), working in the office of the chief financial officer and in the international sector division. He also contributed as a writer for Executive magazine in Lebanon. Badran holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from DePauw University in the U.S.

THE CHINA SYNDROME

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