11 Years After, Nigeria Returns to JP Morgan’s Global Bond Index
• New index covers 26 markets, with Nigeria attracting 7.4% weighting •FG: inclusion reflects growing investor confidence in current reforms Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja and Nume Ekeghe in Lagos Leading
JP Morgan has reinstated Nigeria's bonds into its Global Bond Index – Emerging Markets Edge (GBI-EM Edge), a benchmark that covers 26 markets. The country's bonds now carry a 7.4% weighting, one of the highest allocations among participating nations. This marks the first time Nigeria has been part of the index since 2015, when it was forced out due to a foreign exchange liquidity squeeze.
The inclusion reflects the growing investor confidence in Nigeria's economic reforms, particularly the stabilization of the naira, clearance of foreign exchange backlog, stronger GDP growth, and easing inflation. Nigeria's bonds were first included in the J.P. Morgan GBI-EM in 2012 and attracted substantial foreign investment during that period.
The new index, launched days before FTSE Russell upgraded Nigeria from an unclassified to a Frontier market status, tracks $328 billion worth of local-currency government debt across 425 instruments in 26 markets and 24 currencies. The average yield to maturity of the Nigerian bonds included in the index is 17.1%, with an average duration of 3.38 years.
The Federal Ministry of Finance welcomed the development, stating that Nigeria's inclusion is a reflection of growing investor confidence in the country's economic reforms. The ministry expects the inclusion to attract about $17.5 billion into Nigeria's debt market and lower bond yields by up to 200 basis points.
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