Greece today suffers the shame of an official expulsion from the club of developed countries, after the sharp downsizing of its economy had already cast doubt on its real status.
Responsibility for the gesture was taken by MSCI which downgraded Greece to an emerging country, inserting it in the corresponding stock index. The decision was announced yesterday evening by index provider MSCI, explaining that the review was necessary as the Greek market is no longer able to meet the various accessibility criteria required for inclusion among developed countries. In fact, following the crisis, restrictions were introduced regarding loan procedures, short selling and the transferability of securities. Furthermore, the Greek stock market has fallen short of the minimum size requirement in the last two years, having lost 91% in value since 2007; so much so that Greek companies now weigh 0,01 percent of the MSCI World Index.
After 12 years of permanence we are therefore witnessing the exit of Greece from the club of advanced countries.
Although the American company Russell had already taken a similar measure in March, the importance of the MSCI, whose indexes, developed in New York, are followed by operators who move assets for around 7 trillion dollars, has a decidedly greater impact.
Simultaneously with the downgrade of the Greek country, the MSCI also promoted Qatar and the Arab Emirates to the status of emerging countries while Morocco becomes a frontier market.
