Summary

The overriding market story in the United States of late has been whether or not the Fed will stare down mounting investor bets on ahead-of-schedule rate normalization. But this a dynamic that reverberates far beyond US shores. Interest hikes in the United States – or even the mere assumption of their impending arrival – risks sapping capital flows from emerging markets, and right when many are already fiscally constrained and struggling to emerge from a disastrous year of COVID-19.

Here are a few emerging market economies that are particularly vulnerable: