Central Banks of Bric and Mexico
Introduction
This paper is a review of five web sites of the central banks of four BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and Mexico. As the importance of emerging markets in the world economy is strengthening, investors, analysts and other users will require a wide range of information and data to include in researches, as well as in the process of investment decision-making. All sites will be analyzed in terms of design, overall representation of information, instruments available for investors to use financial information, statistics and other data. Only English versions of all sites are assessed. Each site will be graded maximum 3 points for design, 5 points for information available, and 7 points for data and tools. Maximum total grade is 15.
Banco Central do Brazil (bcb.gov.br)
The main page of the English version of this site provides a user with the latest news on the Brazilian financial system, as well as with the quick access to the latest reports, which seems to be very convenient for investors and analysts. The main page also provides brief live data on exchange and interest rates, but this is not in English and, therefore, not quite useful. Banco Central do Brazil has a page for legislation and norms, but it is not quite detailed and sometimes not fully translated in English. The site also provides visitors with the information and statistical data on Brazilian economy, financial and banking systems (interest and exchange rates, money supply, etc.). All data can be downloaded as Excel sheets, and, therefore, can be easily used in any type of economical-statistical analysis.
Grades: design — 2, information — 3, data and tools — 5. Total: 10.
Central Bank of Russia (cbr.ru)
Though this site has a very simple and straightforward design, it is overloaded with the information. It is not easy to figure out where should you click to reach information you need. What is important from the investors point of view is that the site provides the whole range of information on the Russian banking legislation and monetary policy in English. Statistical information on the Russian economy (such as money supply, interest rates, exchange rates, etc.) and Russian banking system (such as liquidity position, etc.) can be obtained through this site. All the statistical data is presented in the format of HTML or PDF pages and tables and cant be exported to Excel (or similar software) automatically. That hampers use of this data in research and analysis. 
Grades: design — 1, information — 4, data and tools — 4. Total: 9.
Reserve Bank of India (rbi.org.in)
As other sites, the site of Reserve Bank of India has a simplified design, emphasizing content rather than decorations. Unlike the previous sites, this one is very well structured. The index page doesnt contain much of information, though latter can be easily accessed through other pages. All important documents