Rogers, who lives in Singapore, reportedly told a group of journalists that "a couple of weeks ago, I bought Russian sovereign bonds, in rubles," and complained about the limitations that US sanctions have placed on the possibility of buying Russian bonds.
"Many Russian bonds are under sanctions, and I can't just pick up the phone and buy them. I as a US citizen and many other citizens of Western countries can't legally buy the majority of Russian sovereign bonds. It's absurd!" Rogers said.
Jim Rogers is the chairman of the investment firms Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc, and co-founded the Quantum Group of private hedge funds with George Soros in 1973.
Rogers said that he bought the ruble bonds because they have a much higher yield than Eurobonds denominated in dollars or euros; he declined to say how many of the bonds he bought.
"I am suspicious (about Eurobonds) because I'm not that optimistic about the euro, and they will be in dollars or euros. If I buy Russian bonds, they will be in rubles," he said.
"If China's market goes down low, I would buy there. I am looking to invest in Kazakhstan, where there are very dramatic changes taking place, positive changes. It's difficult for an American still to invest in Iran, but the Japanese can and should be investing in Iran," he recommended.
"There are some places in the world where good things are happening, [but with] American stock markets near an all-time high, I don't want to buy [in] America," Rogers said.
The investor also shared his concerns about the world economy; in his opinion, years of artificially low interest rates and central banks' quantitative easing policies have caused excesses that must be corrected by a recession.
"The world is going to have to face the problems and take the pain, and it's going to be painful especially in Japan. But you let people go bankrupt, you clean up the system and you start over."
"The way you build an economy is with savings and investing. Consumption is wonderful for a while, but you have to have a basis of savings and investing before you have the consumption."
