Nigeria will not be excluded from the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Frontier Markets Index despite recent fears to that effect, BusinessDay has learnt.
MSCI had issued a statement on April 7, 2016 stating that “it is monitoring accessibility of Nigerian Equities Market and is currently taking consultations from its clients on the Ease of Capital Flows in Nigeria.”
As a result, the purpose of MSCI’s consultations is not to exclude Nigeria from any its composite indexes of which Nigeria is a component (MSCI Frontier Markets Index).
The upcoming announcement on April 29, 2016 would therefore not be to exclude Nigeria from MSCI Frontier Markets Index but to decide if Nigerian constituents in the index will be part of the Semi-Annual Index Reviews (Rebalancing) due by May, 2016.
The feedback from the consultations with their clients will form part of the basis for MSCI’s next Country Reclassification due by June, 2016.
MSCI will usually give considerable time in the event of any decision on any country and will not take any surprise action.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) said also that they are hopeful that the current efforts by policy makers to boost liquidity in the Fx Market will yield results in the short to medium term.
“We are in constantly in touch with MSCI, Investor Community and will continue to engage on the situation of the country”, said the NSE.
Iheanyi Nwachukwu
