0331 GMT - Emerging-market debt is no longer the narrow distressed-debt niche of the 1990s, but a powerful engine of global growth, offering diverse opportunities, Eastspring Investments says in a note. The percentage of investment grade-rated dollar-denominated emerging-market sovereign bonds rose to above 50% in 2025 up from 0% in 1991, the asset manager says. Meanwhile, in several developed markets, larger fiscal needs and structurally higher social spending may challenge the path back to sustainably lower inflation, it says. Artificial-intelligence disruption, geopolitical tensions, shifting trade alliances and energy security concerns are creating greater dispersion across growth, inflation and policy rates within the emerging markets, Eastspring says.