Even the recent announcement by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) that it will carry out a semi-annual review for its Emerging Market (EM), Frontier Market (FM) and Developed Market (DM) indices is looked at sceptically. The fears of domestic investors are not unfounded as the current rout in the stock market roughly kicked off after a similar review in May 2017 when the MSCI upgraded Pakistan from FM to EM category. Especially, HBL witnessed a huge drop in its market capitalisation since the announcement of a penalty and may become the Achilles heel in the upcoming review. However, perception-wise, many international fund managers still consider Pakistan part of the FM rather than the EM. The writer is a financial market enthusiast and attached to Pakistan stock, commodity and debt marketsPublished in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2019.

Source: The Express Tribune April 15, 2019 03:56 UTC