It Loves To Winter In . Florida, Too. 44 . • . • • : N /""is.t.I Compiled by Steve Stein Wherever your travels take you, from Boca Raton to Key Biscayne, take along the Midwest Guaranty Bank ATM card and never pay transaction fees. The "No Fees" ATM card from Midwest Guaranty. Don't fly South without it. Beverly Hills/Birmingham 32800 Southfield Rd. (At 14 Mile) (810) 647-5900 Troy-Main Office/Columbia Center 201 West Big Beaver Road (West of Livernois) (810) 689-1200 Livonia 33897 5 Mile Rd. (West of Farmington) (313) 522-0900 WEIGHT WATCHERS of South Texas, the fifth-largest Weight Watchers franchise in the country, has reappointed Stone, August, Baker Communi- cations Companies (SABCC) of Trdy as its marketing services agency. SABCC was Weight Watchers of South Texas' agency from 1983-93. For the past 15 years, SABCC has represented W W Group of Farmington Hills, Weight Watchers' largest fran- chisee. SABCC also represents Weight Watchers of the Mid- South and Weight Watchers of Washington, D.C. HEAR MUSIC has opened a retail store at the Somerset Col- lection in Troy. Founded in 1989 as a mail-or- der catalogue, Hear Music opened its first store hi Berkeley, Calif., in 1992. It now has two other stores — one in Westport, Conn., and the other at the Som- erset Collection. Hear Music says its stores are a 3-D version of its catalogue. The stores feature many Cds by un- known artists and places where customers can listen to Cds on headphones. Growth Spurt MIDWEST GUARANTYE-ICBANK Israel's emerging market is becoming more inviting for foreign investors. Member FDIC • Member Federal Reserve System CHARLES R. MAURICE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS - • 0 • CIGARETTES • CIGARS • PIPES • TOBACCOS • LIGHTERS • ACCESSORIES SMOKY'S GUARANTEE! We Will Beat Any Competitors Coupon or Price We Accept All Manufacturer's Coupons WE ALSO CARRY ITS A BOY & ITS A GIRL CIGARS OPEN: MON.-SAT. 9-8 • SUN. 11-4 ioucco 2727 WOODWARD, BERKLEY • 546-8431 3 Blocks South of 12 Mile LIVONIA • (313) 513-2622 COMING SOON AUBURN HILLS • HUPMAN • ASHTON • ZINO • TE-AMO • GRIFFIN • ALIADOS • BERING • CUESTA REY • CENTENNIAL • PARTACAS • SMOKY'S CHOICE • DUNHILL • ARTURO FUENTO L ligt4 Rola: 805 East Maple SINCE 1892 ■ Birmingham ■ j 647-9090 Find It All In The Jewish News Classifieds Call 354-5959 ne of the exciting develop- ments over the past decade has been the rapid growth of the stock markets of de- veloping countries. Since the be- ginning of 1994, The Economist, the respected weekly magazine, has been including Israel in its regular survey of emerging mar- kets. There is no conclusive defini- tion of what constitutes an emerging market. One definition includes only those markets which have started the process of expansion of their economy in terms of increased capacity and technological sophistica- tion. Another uses a broader defin- ition which embraces all devel- oping countries, based on the underlying assumption that all have the potential for economic growth in the near future. The World Bank has adopted the broader definition of emerg- ing markets, i.e. sweeping inclu- sion of all developing countries. It bases its definition on Gross National Product (GNP) per capi- ta. Thereby, the World Bank con- siders countries with low or moderate per capita income ($636 to $7,910) to be emerging economies. Can the definition of an emerg- ing economy be applied to Israel? Because Israel's economy has been growing at a high rate for a number of years, it meets the cen- tral criterion of most definitions. Charles R. Maurice is employed by Marathon Investment in Israel. On the other hand, per-capita in- come stands at about $13,000 and this positive fact prevents Is- rael from formally being consid- ered an emerging market. The international investor seeks investment opportunities with strong and long-term po- tential for growth — and profit. From this perspective, Israel is highly attractive to the foreign investor. This is similar to how Hong Kong and Singapore are regard- ed; significant emerging markets in spite of the high per-capita in- come ($19,000 and $17,000 re- spectively). Like many of the emerging markets, Israel suffered hyper- inflation during the early 1980s. The first goal, of course, was rein- ing in inflation by drastic reduc- tion of the budget deficit and the capital market. These processes gave birth to a string of economic reforms in the shares and bond markets, in taxation, foreign currency and privatization of state-owned companies, as well as institu- tional savings, insurance, super- vision and regulatory authorities, limitation of monopolies and more. From the reformation phase of the second half of the 1980s, the Israeli economy entered into A rapid-growth phase in the early 1990s which was amplified by the waves of immigration from the former Soviet Union. Today, a third phase is in full swing; rapid growth which is be- ing nourished by the peace process and the change in Israel's