Outgrowing a catchy moniker, Indonesia is fragile no more

Emerging markets are a rich picking ground for investment bank analysts with a penchant for developing pet theories they can apply to diverse groupings of economies that start to share some similarities and on which they can slap a catchy marketing label. But things can change fast in emerging markets.

BRICS is a case in point. Coined in 2001 as BRIC, it initially grouped Brazil, Russia, India and China and then had South Africa added later when that country began to fit the bill.

The short-lived and not quite so catchy MIST lumped together Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey until it became clear that MINT sounded better and Korea could be ejected in favour of Nigeria.

Now we have "The Fragile Five", a little less catchy but a convenient moniker to apply to a group of economies that for a while last summer all suffered from balance of payments weakness that was a focal point for investor anxiety as a bout of indiscriminate risk aversion struck emerging markets.

Two Asian economies - Indonesia and India - were in the group, but fast forward just seven months and it's hard to see why they should be.