Feeling bold? Then buy into Zimbabwe

For bold investors, 'frontier markets' are looking attractive. But for the truly fearless, try Zimbabwe.

Frontier spirit is in short supply among investors. The newest emerging markets have had a terrible year, falling 59% over 12 months against a 25% drop for the MSCI Emerging Market Index. But for those prepared to be greedy when others are fearful, valuations are "extremely attractive" in the long term, according to last month's report from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.

Take Africa. Falling commodity prices have hurt Nigeria, Zambia and Botswana, countries that are heavily dependent, respectively, on oil, copper and diamond exports. Botswana's GDP is likely to fall by 7% this year, for example, while the Zambian Kwacha has depreciated by 43% against the US dollar since January. Yet overall, sub-Saharan Africa will still grow at 3.5% this year, according to the IMF, and the continent will account for 15 out of the 20 fastest-growing countries in 2009.

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