Emerging markets face 'why bother?' problem

The China conundrum aside, a search for undervalued assets already seems to be tempting some investors back to emerging markets – but Western savers happily hunkered down at home may struggle to accept the case. In the slipstream of the global rate cut euphoria late last year, foreigners plowed a net $29 billion into emerging market debt and equity portfolios in December – taking the 2023 inflow near $179 billion, according to numbers published by the Institute of International Finance this week. That looks like quite a whoosh given that China, typically the emerging elephant in the room, saw funds…