FTSE Russell denies Saudi Arabia’s entry to emerging markets list

FTSE Russell did not add Saudi Arabia to its index of emerging market countries amid its September country classification annual review, the index provider said in a statement.

“Saudi Arabia is to be congratulated on the pace of the recent market reforms which are widely acknowledged as being positive. As a result of these reforms, it is anticipated that Saudi Arabia will meet the requirements for inclusion as a Secondary Emerging market from early 2018 when further enhancements to the Independent Custody Model (ICM) are scheduled to be introduced,” the statement said.

Saudi Arabia’s status will be assessed again in March, it added.

Meanwhile, Kuwait has met the requirements of attaining the Secondary Emerging market status, and the implementation of its revised market status will commence from September 2018.

Kuwait is the fourth Arab market to be added to the index after Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Egypt.