Nigeria has begun formal discussions with JPMorgan to re-enter its Government Bond Index for Emerging Markets, almost 10 years after the country was removed over concerns about FX transparency and market liquidity.
The Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha, disclosed the development on Wednesday during the Nigerian Investor Forum held on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC.
Oniha said Nigeria had resumed active engagement with JPMorgan, supported by recent reforms in the foreign exchange market, which she said have restored confidence and improved market conditions.
“With the reforms implemented, the foreign exchange market has improved, and we’re eligible again. We’ve resumed active engagement with JP Morgan to re-enter the index,” she said.
In a follow-up post on the official DMO Nigeria X (formerly Twitter) handle on Thursday, the agency reiterated its position, stating that the country is working to rejoin the JPMorgan GBI-EM index, citing the impact of FX reforms.
The post quoted Oniha as saying Nigeria now meets the criteria to be readmitted into the index.
Nigeria was originally added to the JPMorgan index in 2012, but was delisted in 2015 following allegations of insufficient liquidity and a lack of transparency in the pricing of foreign exchange.
The country was placed on negative index watch before it was officially removed on September 8, 2015.
Since then, significant reforms have been introduced. Most recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria unified multiple exchange rate windows and reduced its direct interventions in the FX market.
These changes are aimed at enhancing price discovery and attracting investor participation.
The DMO said Oniha and Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso also highlighted the recent stabilisation of the naira and renewed investor interest in the Nigerian economy.
They noted that Fitch Ratings recently upgraded Nigeria’s long-term foreign currency rating from ‘B-’ to ‘B’, citing improved macroeconomic indicators and investor sentiment.
Rejoining the JPMorgan index is expected to boost Nigeria’s visibility among global fund managers and could unlock billions of dollars in foreign portfolio investments.
The GBI-EM index is a widely tracked benchmark used by institutional investors to measure the performance of sovereign bonds in emerging markets.
Nigeria’s efforts to re-enter the index come at a time when authorities are looking to consolidate recent gains from FX market reforms and send a strong signal of economic credibility to the international investment community.
