The attractions of investing in fast-growing emerging markets have been widely proclaimed for years and yet UK private investors park a relatively small proportion of their wealth in these markets, according to Fidelity International.

UK savers have just 2.3 per cent in global emerging markets even though these markets make up for 30 per cent of world GDP, the fund management firm said.

These countries have nearly doubled their share of global GDP to 30 per cent in less than two decades, the company said. China has climbed its way up the world league table of economic growth and is forecast by the International Monetary Fund to be the third most important country in terms of GDP by the end of the year, behind Japan and the US.

“Obviously there are risks with investments in emerging markets - corporate governance standards are in some cases lower than in the West and their equity markets can be as volatile as British banking shares - but over the longer term the performance of stock markets tends to be correlated with economic performance,” said Peter Hicks, executive director, UK retail, at Fidelity International.

“Isn't it time for investors to raise their exposure to emerging markets from just 2.3 per cent?  Matching the GDP figure of 30 per cent may be too much of a leap but for more adventurous investors, a weighting of 10-20 per cent might be a more realistic reflection of these economies' stature,” Mr Hicks said.