In 2001 the world began talking about the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China (recently expanded to Egypt, UAE, Ethiopia, Iran and Saudi Arabia) - as potential powerhouses of the world economy. The term was coined by economist Jim O’Neill, who has now identified the “Mint” countries - Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Türkiye - as emerging economic giants.
What these nations all have in common is that their inner demographics are incredibly strong and will continue to be strong for the next 20 years. This means that they will see a rise in the number of people eligible to work relative to those not working.
Furthermore, all have geographical positions that should be an advantage as patterns of world trade change. Mexico is next door to the US, but also Latin America. Indonesia is in the heart of South-east Asia but also has deep connections with China. Türkiye is in both the West and East. Nigeria is not really similar in this regard for now, partly because of Africa’s lack of development, but it could be in the future if African countries stop fighting and trade with each other.
A further argument is that the Mints have more in common than the BRICS .Economically three of them - Mexico, Indonesia and Nigeria - are commodity producers and only Türkiye isn’t. This contrasts with the BRIC countries where two - Brazil and Russia - are commodity producers and the other two - China and India - aren’t.
However, these nations do encompass many challenges which could inhibit growth - corruption is obviously one topic that all four would seem to share. Although, in Nigeria, Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi argued that corruption rarely prevents economic development - and that the growth of the economy, accompanied by improvements in education, will lead to better governance and greater transparency.
Indonesia’s challenges
In Indonesia, the fourth largest country in the world, I would say leadership and infrastructure are the major challenges, though there are many more too. But challenges and opportunities sit side by side.
In one of Jakarta’s slum areas, Pluit, the land is sinking by 20cm per year because of over-extraction of water, but property prices elsewhere in the city are rocketing.
Türkiye’s challenges
In TĂĽrkiye, its politics and the combination of a Muslim faith with some kind of desire to do things the Western way is a unique sort of challenge. Some might argue the same challenge exists for Indonesia but I returned thinking this was not the case. In Jakarta at least, the Western way of doing things seems to be generally accepted - in striking contrast with TĂĽrkiye.
There is no doubt that the MINT countries have potential to be some of the world’s largest economic powers but as issues persist in all four countries it is more convincing that this will be a long-term idea rather than something that occurs in the next 10 years.