Market conditions

By B.J. Richards

In a recent interview with the BBC, the Vice President of Mozambique likened investors in the country to big game hunters: brash and brave in the daytime pursuit of their quarry, but huddled around the fire, afraid of the dark and the howl of not-too-distant hyenas, at night.  It explains, he suggests why so much investment is focused around the airport, a place of comparative security.

By Fiona Czerniawska

“I’d like to speak to Vasily Speransky.”  “I’m sorry,” says the heavily-accented Russian voice on the other end of the line, “he’s busy.  Phone back later.”  I call again: “He’s left the building,” says the voice. “Call tomorrow.”  I do so: the voice sighs, weighed down – I fondly imagine– by the melancholia of countless generations of Russian writers and poets:  “He’s left the company.  Don’t call back.”