On Bearish India, China Pollution & North Korea Gold Coins - Jimmy Rogers

Jim Rogers: Forget India, try Myanmar or North Korea for next Emerging Market bonanza

Bad times are coming for India (EPI) (PIN), says Jim Rogers. So where does the high-profile investor suggest for the next emerging-markets gold rush?

"You should get on the next plane you can and head to Myanmar or North Korea - maybe Angola," Rogers told BBC this week. In those Asian countries in particular, "there are extraordinary things happening - positive things happening," he says.

All those countries could do with a boost. Myanmar - the former Burma - is ranked among the 10 worst economies in the world (Angola's on that list too), while North Korea's unstable currency is only one of the factors making it tricky to invest in the "Hermit Kingdom".

His advice looks a bit offbeat, given Rogers has been snapping up commemorative gold coins from North Korea, in an apparent bet the country will collapse and the value of the coins go up .

Rogers was actually on the BBC to explain why he's been saying "the wolf is now at the door in India" . Turns out it's down to debt, deficits and red tape.

"The debt-to-GDP now is up over 90%. Studies show that when you get that deeply in debt, it's very difficult to move forward at a rapid rate," he says. "They've got balance-of-trade deficits - they've got all sorts of deficits there."

Plus, the "serious problems" facing the country are pretty much self-inflicted, Rogers believes.

"In 1980, India was much, much more successful than China. Since then, China's run circles around them. Did you do it to India, did I do it to India? No. The Indians did it to themselves. [They're] full of bureaucracy, full of crazy regulations and controls. heir currency's not convertible - it's a mess."

But even if things do turn out for the worst, Rogers seriously doubts India's malaise will spread to the rest of Asia and set off a 1998-style emerging-market crisis. That's because the other leading economies there - China, Japan and Taiwan, for instance - are all creditor nations, with "huge money in the bank", he says.

"Indonesia's got problems. Malaysia, Turkey - there are other countries in Asia that have big problems. But they're also huge, huge asset savers."

Rogers, who moved to Singapore to be closer to the Asian action, says he would live in China if it wasn't so polluted. But that drawback is a chance for investors, he's been repeatedly saying.

"Somebody's going to make a lot of money cleaning it up, now the Chinese government and the Chinese citizens know that it's terribly filthy," he says. "For the next 20 or 30 years, huge amounts of money are going to be spent, and therefore, profits made."

So investors should look to the companies that specialize in China's particular problems with air, soil and water pollution.

"It's a huge mess. Mao-Tse Tung really ruined it in many ways."

Courtesy of Karen Friar, marketwatch.com