By Polina Tikhonova. Originally published at ValueWalk.
The economy of Pakistan is on the rise, as CPEC opens doors to foreign investors.
In what has become a major victory for the Pakistani economy, U.S.-based Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) reclassified Pakistan as an emerging market after voyaging among frontier markets for the past nine years.
As the benchmark KSE-100 index skyrocketed 400 points to reach 52,700 level at the open earlier this week – reaching the all-time high level – the MSCI upgraded the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to the Emerging Markets status, paving the way for foreign investors that track the index with between $1.4 trillion and $1.7 trillion available.
The big news for the Pakistani economy news comes as Pakistan is set to soak up the economic benefits of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which has for months been one of the most talked about topics among foreign investors.
Pakistan to generate $200-500 million investment inflows
MSCI, a leading international index provider, upgraded Pakistan to the Emerging Market status from the Frontier Market status that the country had held for nine years since the global financial crisis in 2008. The major changes announced in MSCI’s indexes come as part of its May 2017 Semi Annual Index Review.
The reclassification of Pakistan by MSCI will most likely bring foreign investors to the South Asian country, which is already facing an influx of foreign investments thanks to the game-changer CPEC projects. Most foreign institutional investors place a high value on MSCI indexes, as the index provider creates balanced portfolios that allow to generate maximum returns while listing all possible risks.
MSCI’s decision to reclassify Pakistan as an Emerging Market brightens the future for the country’s economy, as it is expected to generate inflows of investments in the range of $200-500 million, according to the Tribune citing JS Global Research.
Pakistan, top performing market in Asia, flaunts strong economic performance
Credit Suisse Group, a leading global financial services company headquartered in Zurich, Germany, estimates a pro-forma weight of ~16 bp for Pakistan constituents in the Emerging Market Index, according to Credit Suisse’s research paper on Pakistan Market Strategy. According to Credit Suisse’s estimations, the upgrade to the Emerging Market is expected to drive about $270 million of passive flows in the standard and small cap index.
MSCI’s decision to reclassify Pakistan as an Emerging Market spurred the KSE-100, surging it 8.6% in 2017 alone. The increase would be much greater, but political uncertainty over the Panama case prevented the KSE-100 from soaring even higher. Since late April, the KSE-100 has skyrocketed over 10%, with leading brokerage houses and economic analysts projecting the upward trend to continue.
In 2016, Pakistan became the top-performing market in Asia, with a whopping 46% return, and also maintained its dominance in the MSCI FM Index. Many analysts insist that Pakistan’s economic success stems from strong cash liquidity due to soft interest rate as well as the growing investor confidence, which in part is motivated by the country’s ambitious projects under CPEC.
Economic recovery in Pakistan, as well as rebound in oil prices and improving security situation in the country have also played a big role in Pakistan’s strong economic performance.
Pakistan had been one of the MSCI Emerging Markets for 14 years, from 1994 to 2008, before the temporary closure of the Karachi Stock Exchange in the wake of the global financial crisis prompted MSCI to remove it from the EM Index. Pakistan was then classified as a “standalone country index” for nearly a year, before MSCI reclassified it as the Frontier Market in May 2009.
Pakistan’s economic growth driven by CPEC in number
MSCI’s decision also adds six large-cap stocks to be part of the MSCI Pakistan Index starting from June, 1, 2017. The six stocks include: Oil and Gas Development Company; Habib Bank Limited; United Bank Limited; Lucky Cement; MCB Bank; Engro Corporation.
That’s good news for Pakistan and its economic performance, as each of the six large-cap stocks are well positioned for growth. Credit Suisse estimated during its Asian Investment Conference in March that Lucky Cement would experience growth due to the domestic demand momentum that is being spurred by rising private construction and infrastructure spending under CPEC.
The strong positioning in agriculture, foods & beverages and energy businesses of Engro Corporation, meanwhile, opens door for further growth, as the corporation serves as prime beneficiary of CPEC via its Thar coal power projects. Habib Bank Limited – Pakistan’s banking giant – is, meanwhile, estimated by Credit Suisse to have the fastest growth in current accounts and fee income over the past five years, the two factors that have been leveraged to growth opportunities under CPEC.
Pakistan: PROs and CONs of investing in the country
The Pakistani economy also greatly benefits from the Chinese investment pouring into the South Asian country, with the Pakistani stock market positively reacting to foreign investments from its CPEC partner. Interestingly, not all of the Chinese investment in Pakistan is part of CPEC, which suggests that China is interested in boosting the Pakistani economy for decades to come, rather than simply using it as means to serve the large appetites of its One Belt, One Road initiative, which has CPEC as one of its sub branches.
CPEC, which now brings $54 billion of China’s investments, is arguably the healthiest economic solution for economic growth in Pakistan’s history. Under the ambitious CPEC projects, Pakistan not only gets to once and for all put an end to one of the biggest obstacles for Pakistani economic growth – energy shortages – but also gets to receive enormous foreign investments from around the world.
Pakistan is also becoming an attractive investment opportunity for foreign investors due to the positive estimations from the Asian Development Bank, which expects the Pakistani economy growth to rise to 5.2% in 2017 and 5.5% in 2018. However, there are still several risks for foreign investors to bear in mind. Those are: the declining trend in Pakistan’s exports, shrinking manufacturing (13% of GDP), decreased remittances and the balance of payments is being under pressure.
The post The Pakistan Economy On The Rise, Thanks To CPEC [ANALYSIS] appeared first on ValueWalk.
Sign up for ValueWalk’s free newsletter here.
