Romania will be reclassified from a frontier to a secondary emerging market and Tanzania will become a frontier market, effective September 2020, according to the equity side of FTSE Russell’s latest classification review.
Argentina was removed from the watch list for potential reclassification as a secondary emerging market because it has imposed capital controls.
And Vietnam will remain on the watch list for possible reclassification from frontier to secondary emerging market.
“Congratulations to the authorities in Romania and Tanzania who have worked hard to achieve their promotions,” said Joti Rana, head of index governance and policy for the Americas, in a press release. “We also continue to track the progress of Vietnam, which remains on our watch list. FTSE Russell continues to engage with the Argentinean market authorities to ascertain the longevity of the recently introduced capital controls.”
On the fixed income side, Israel will be added to the FTSE world government bond index and FTSE world inflation linked securities index beginning in April 2020.
“We congratulate Israel on their inclusion in the FTSE world government bond index,” said Nikki Stefanelli, head of fixed income index policy at FTSE Russell. “There was a strong consensus from index users that the Israeli government bond market meets the thresholds of our highest accessibility level.”
FTSE Russell introduced the fixed income country classification framework in early 2019 to increase transparency in benchmark inclusion. Countries, which are given market accessibility ratings from zero to two, must be rated as a two to be included in the FTSE world government bond index.
China remains on the fixed income watch list for a potential upgrade to level two, while Malaysia remains on the watch list for a potential downgrade from level two.