Age: Coined last year.
Appearance: A bit like Pigs, but more promising.
Civets look like promising pigs? No, the term Civets is like Pigs, in the sense that they're both acronyms. Unlike Pigs, however, Civets show a lot of promise as investment opportunities.
You've lost me. Pigs is the controversial and faintly derogatory term for Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain, lumped together because of the problems in their sovereign debt markets. Civets is the term for Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa.
And they're lumped together why? Because they're seen as a second tier of emerging economies expected to grow rapidly over the next 10 years.
A second tier? Behind the BRICs – Brazil, Russia, India and China. The term was coined by former HSBC boss Michael Geoghegan, when his firm became the first to launch a dedicated fund investing in them. Think of the Civets as the indie alternative to the mainstream Brics.
So why are we talking about them today? Because one of their leaders is in town. The Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, is in London this week and looking to forge an economic "special relationship" with Britain. Given that Colombia's economy is growing about four times faster than ours, it's an offer we probably shouldn't refuse.
I still have one problem. Shoot.
'Pig' and 'brick' are words that describe those economies: the sturdy brics and the profligate pigs. And?
And a civet is what exactly? It's a nocturnal mammal that looks like a cross between an otter and a gaudy pair of tights.
OK. And does it do anything that's relevant to economics? Well, it's best known for the rare and expensive coffee made by picking bits of partially digested beans out of its poo.
And that relates to the Colombian economy how? No idea. You'd have to ask Michael Geoghegan.
Do say: "Civets not broke, don't fix it."
Don't say: "Wouldn't Evicts have made more sense?"
