13 Questions: Omotunde Lawal on Russia Risk and Forever Stocks

13 Questions: Omotunde Lawal on Russia Risk and Forever Stocks

In this series of short profiles, we ask leading fund managers to defend their investment strategies, reveal their views on cryptocurrency, and tell us what they'd never buy.

This time our interviewee is Omotunde Lawal, head of emerging markets corporate debt at Barings, where she also manages the Morningstar 5-star rated baring emerging markets debt short duration fund.

Events in Ukraine have created considerable uncertainty for emerging markets corporates, and the current environment remains fluid and difficult to predict. The economic sanctions put in place and the supply side distributions have resulted in prices for oil and other commodities spiking, adding to inflationary pressures globally. However, there will be corporates that benefit. Specifically, crude exporters in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and mining companies in Peru, Chile and Brazil, and soft commodity exporters in Latin America. The global re-opening of economies following the pandemic is also set to continue and we expect some bright spots in support of global economic activity.