Still an emerging market

Good news: Bloomberg Markets magazine ranked 20 of the world's emerging markets and put the CR at No. 5, behind only China, South Korea, Thailand and Peru. The CR is the most-promising emerging market in CEE for investors, ahead of Russia (No. 9), Poland (No. 12) and Hungary (No. 18). It seems a bit odd to read about the "Attractive Czech bride" (as Týden magazine entitled its very good story this week on the Bloomberg rankings) at a time when the business debate in the country revolves around whether bearer shares should be abolished because they are the favored instruments of the mafias or, on the contrary, should remain legal because they are a way for honest businesspeople to avoid being extorted by the mafias. Such doubts about the legal system are mainly what makes the CR an "emerging market," although the concept isn't strictly defined. Petr Kříž of E&Y told Týden that the CR could become one of the most-developed countries in the coming decades. If only the politicians (and mafias) shared the same goal.