BRIC BRICS Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters

Think you know emerging markets?

Goldman Sachs Asset Management just sent out a quiz to its clients with 10 questions covering everything from Asia to Africa to Latin America. It's trickier than you might think at first.

See how well you know your trivia with the 10 questions below. Scroll down for answers.


1. What country is the Republic of China? (Yes, really.)

2. What institution is the world's biggest non-US employer?

3. What country has more proven oil reserves than Saudi Arabia?

4. What Latin American country has negative net debt-to-GDP (after subtracting reserves)?

5. What country has the fastest internet connection speed?

6. In what year did Russia default on its hard-currency debt?

7. What country was Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer born in? What is it called now? In what country did he preside over the Central Bank before joining the Fed?

8. How many islands are in the Indonesian archipelago?

A. Below 500.

B. Between 500 and 1,000.

C. Between 1,000 and 5,000.

D. Between 5,000 and 10,000.

E. More than 10,000.

9. What percent of the world population is expected to be in Africa by 2050?

10. What was year-on-year inflation rate in Brazil in 1992? What President was nearly impeached that year?

map Flickr/internetarchivebookimages


1. Taiwan is officially known as the Republic of China. The country we commonly refer to as China is officially known as the People's Republic of China. (CIA World Factbook, 2015)

2. Clocking in at 2.3mm the work force at People's Liberation Army (PLA) in China eclipses that of Walmart at 2.1mm (World Economic Forum, data as of 2015). It remains to be seen whether Xi Jinping's planned rationalization of the armed forces, including cuts of up to 300k staff will put the US behemoth ahead.

3. Venezuela. Total proven oil reserves are at 298.3 bn for Venezuela vs 267.0 bn for Saudi Arabia. (BP Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2015, 64th edition)

4. Chile has a net debt-to-GDP of -7.5%. I.e., the country is a net creditor to the world. (Haver Analytics)

5. South Korea. With speeds of 26.7 Mb/second, according to the Akamai report, this is twice as fast as the 12.6 Mb/second in the US. (Akamai reports, as of Q4, 2015)

6. This is a trick question. Russia defaulted on its local debt in 1998. It imposed a 90-day moratorium on foreign debt in August of the year, but did not renew it upon expiry. (Bloomberg, 2014)

7. Born in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, Stan Fischer served as Governor of Bank of Israel from 2005-2013. (Wikipedia)

8. E. While estimates vary, the CIA World Factbook 2015 puts the number of islands at 17,508. Less than a thousand are inhabited.

9. According to a recent UN report, 1 out of 4 people in the world is expected to be African by 2050, with the continent's population more than doubling to 2.5 billion people. (United Nations World Population Prospects, 2015)

10. Brazil's CPI in 1992 clocked in at north of 1,100%. The latest IPCA-15 inflation print came in at a hair below 10% y-o-y in March. (Bloomberg) Fernando Collor de Mello, who became the country's youngest President at age 40 in 1990, resigned during the impeachment trial. He was later found guilty and barred from holding public office for eight years. (Wikipedia)

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