Apr 16

Weekly Roundup | 04.16.2024

Our pick of headlines this week impacting commercial real estate in the emerging markets.

Welcome to the Emerging Real Estate Digest, a newsletter and news media platform for investors and developers of real estate in the emerging markets. Sign up here.

🤝🏻 Our gentlemen's agreement is that we give you curated information for free, in exchange for you engaging with us on social media, and opening and sharing our emails.

✍️ Writer’s Guidelines for submissions.

Headlines:

Remote Workers Are About to Get a Rude Awakening

Gen Z is Toxic for Companies, Employers Believe

Emerging Markets Are Exercising Greater Global Sway

Panama Canal Chokepoint Approaching an End as the Rainy Season Begins in May

FBI Director Chris Wray Says US Needs ‘Much More’ Help from Mexico to Combat Dangerous Drugs, Deadly Gangs

Leading Real Estate Developer in Latin America Releases Report on the Region’s Residential Market (exclusive download for subscribers)

Chinese Navy Steps Up African Port Calls in Push to Cement Diplomatic Ties

Access to Credit in South Africa Well Below Chile and USA

A Dubai Company’s Staggering Land Deals in Africa Raise Fears

Nairobi Gate Launches One-of-a-Kind Textile Park for International Manufacturers

Vietnam Female Tycoon Sentenced to Death in Country’s Largest-Ever Real Estate Fraud Case

Outsourcing Founder Explains Why a Manhattan Restaurant Uses a Staffing Firm in the Philippines

Philippines Eyes $100 Billion in Deals From Summit with US, Japan

Jollibee to Open Hundreds of New Stores in Ambitious Worldwide Push

Global

📰 Remote Workers Are About to Get a Rude Awakening

But over the past year, more and more employers have stopped hiring for remote roles. The market for WFH jobs has cratered, putting everyone who moved away from big cities at risk. If they wind up getting laid off or they outgrow their current role, living in a smaller job market is going to severely limit their career options. As Moretti's paper shows, they'll either (1) wind up unemployed for a long stretch, (2) be forced to settle for a local job they're overqualified for, or (3) have to make an abrupt and costly move back to the big city they abandoned.

📰 Gen Z is Toxic for Companies, Employers Believe

In the survey, 68 percent of small business owners said Gen Zers were the "least reliable" of all their employees. And 71 percent said these younger workers were the most likely to have a workplace mental health issue. One of the surveyed employers spoke of Gen Z's "absolute delusion, complete lack of common sense, and zero critical reasoning or basic analytical skills… [and a tendency for] expecting promotions for simply showing up every day."

📰 Emerging Markets Are Exercising Greater Global Sway

Since China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, G20 emerging markets have doubled their share of world trade and foreign direct investment and now account for one third of global GDP. They have become large importers of manufactured products as well as large exporters of intermediate goods, notably in manufacturing and mining.

Latin America

📰 Panama Canal Chokepoint Approaching an End as the Rainy Season Begins in May

The chokepoint at the Panama Canal could be approaching an end as weather forecasts indicate ample rainfall is heading for Panama, which if correct means many international shipping believe a return to normal crossing is possible in the near future. There are currently 46 ships waiting to transit the canal, down from a peak of more than 160 last August. Some observers point out that the canal’s issues may have more to do with design defects of the recently expanded port rather than low rainfalls.

📰 FBI Director Chris Wray Says US Needs ‘Much More’ Help from Mexico to Combat Dangerous Drugs, Deadly Gangs

Wray testified on Thursday before a House Appropriations subcommittee where he pleaded for more cooperation on various issues, saying the US needs “much, much more” help from south of the border.

“I would say it’s very uneven. We’ve had some instances where we’ve had a key arrest and extradition … we’re starting to work with vetted teams down there,” Wray said. “But we need much, much more than we’re getting from the Mexican government.”

📰 Leading Real Estate Developer in Latin America Releases Report on the Region’s Residential Market

Paladin Realty was founded in 1995 and has invested in over 420 properties in 8 countries comprising $7 billion of total costs, many of which were in Latin America. The report discusses the state of the residential markets in the region with particular attention paid to Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico.

Read More: Exclusive Download for Subscribers 👇🏻

Africa

📰 Chinese Navy Steps Up African Port Calls in Push to Cement Diplomatic Ties

The Chinese navy has stepped up its port calls around Africa as part of Beijing’s growing military diplomacy with the continent. After the People’s Liberation Army paused many of its African port visits during the pandemic, it is getting back to full strength again in a bid to cement diplomatic ties as well as show off military hardware. Earlier this week, China’s 45th naval fleet, including guided-missile destroyer Urumqi, missile frigate Linyi and comprehensive replenishment vessel Dongpinghu, visited Madagascar after a visit to Tanzania and Mozambique last month. Such visits were an established practice before the Covid-19 pandemic threw them into disarray.

📰 Access to Credit in South Africa Well Below Chile and USA

Access to private credit in South Africa is well below Chile (a developing country) and the USA (a developed country). Credit allows people to invest in physical and human capital. Credit allows people to acquire education and to become entrepreneurs. Credit allows change to take place in an economy.

Why is credit so limited in South Africa? We have seen that bank concentration is high, and with that our commercial banks do not have the incentive to provide the population at large with access to simple financial instruments. In other words, there is little financial development happening.

Chart showing access to credit in Chile, South Africa, and USA

📰 A Dubai Company’s Staggering Land Deals in Africa Raise Fears

In the past year, the Liberian government has agreed to sell about 10% of the West African country’s land — equivalent to 10,931 square kilometers (i.e., 4,220 square miles) — to Dubai-based company Blue Carbon to preserve forests that might otherwise be logged and used for farming, the primary livelihood for many communities. In Kenya, Indigenous populations already have been evicted to make way for other carbon credits projects, according to rights groups like Amnesty International and Survival International.

📰 Nairobi Gate Launches One-of-a-Kind Textile Park for International Manufacturers

Nairobi Gate Industrial Park, the first Special Economic Zone (SEZ), with a fully consolidated customs-control in East Africa, has launched a manufacturing and warehouse park for Kenya’s textile and apparel industry. Developed by Impact North, the 100 000m2 Textile Park offers built-to-suit solutions based on tenant’s requirements with units measuring from 5 000m2. The warehouse component comprises a minimum 9m height with the yards 35m deep. The A-grade warehouses also incorporate office components on the ground and first floors.

Southeast Asia

📰 Vietnam Female Tycoon Sentenced to Death in Country’s Largest-Ever Real Estate Fraud Case

A court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced the chairwoman of a Vietnamese real estate giant to death on Thursday for her role in the country’s largest-ever financial fraud case. Truong My Lan, founder of the property developer Van Thinh Phat Group, was accused of bribing government officials and embezzling $12 billion from Saigon Commercial Bank, a major Vietnamese lender.

📰 Outsourcing Founder Explains Why a Manhattan Restaurant Uses a Staffing Firm in the Philippines

The Philippines has a massive well of 1.3 million Filipino workers employed through the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, which is the largest in the world and generated $35.4 billion in revenue in 2023. “I simply cannot avoid discussing this topic,” he said. “The cost is admittedly cheaper than the U.S.”

📰 Philippines Eyes $100 Billion in Deals From Summit with US, Japan

The Philippines is eyeing around $100 billion in investment deals in the next five to 10 years from the country's trilateral summit with the United States and Japan, the presidential office said in a statement, quoting its ambassador to Washington. The investments would cover a range of different sectors including energy and digital infrastructure, the Presidential Communications Office said, quoting Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manual Romualdez. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is in Washington for a first-of-a-kind trilateral meeting with his US and Japanese counterparts.

📰 Jollibee to Open Hundreds of New Stores in Ambitious Worldwide Push

Jollibee is looking to increase store count to 500 locations in the USA. Currently, there are 72 company-owned Jollibee locations there. Foreign restaurant brands have historically performed poorly in the US market and a brand with a Filipino heritage is not exactly a household name outside of Asian communities. Also, there is hardly a shortage of restaurant concepts selling hamburgers and fried chicken. It hopes to quadruple stores in China, and strengthen its dominant position in the Philippines by adding 100 more stores this year.