FG’s Bonds To Emerging Markets Benchmark

J.P. Morgan, one of the world’s leading financial institutions and a major manager of widely tracked emerging-market bond indices, has included selected federal government’s bonds in its newly introduced Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets Edge (GBI-EM Edge).

The development, announced on September 14, 2026, marks Nigeria’s return to a J.P. Morgan bond benchmark more than a decade after the country exited its previous index.

The inclusion reflects improvements in Nigeria’s domestic debt market following economic reforms, including measures to stabilise the naira, clear foreign exchange backlogs and strengthen economic growth and inflation management.

Nigeria qualified for inclusion based on two key criteria: market liquidity and the size of outstanding bond issuances.

The federal government said eligible FGN bonds are actively traded under a two-way quote system, while outstanding volumes across the relevant tenors are significantly above J.P. Morgan’s minimum requirement of $250 million.

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Nigeria has been assigned a 7.40 percent weighting in the new index, placing it among the highest-weighted countries in the 26-market benchmark and close to J.P. Morgan’s eight percent maximum country allocation.

The return to the J.P. Morgan benchmark is significant because Nigeria was removed from the GBI-EM Global Diversified Index in 2015 amid foreign exchange liquidity challenges.

Nigeria was initially included in the GBI-EM in 2012, a development that attracted foreign investment into the country’s domestic securities market and reportedly reduced government borrowing costs by about 200 basis points.

The latest inclusion is expected to encourage additional foreign portfolio investment as funds that track the index adjust their portfolios to reflect Nigeria’s allocation.

The government also expects increased foreign institutional demand for FGN bonds to support bond prices and gradually reduce yields, potentially lowering the cost of servicing naira-denominated debt.

Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, described the development as an independent endorsement of the economic reforms being implemented by the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

Oyedele said the development reflects increased confidence in Nigeria’s economic management and could help reduce the cost of financing the country’s development priorities.

He however, noted that the government would continue implementing reforms aimed at securing Nigeria’s full reinstatement in J.P. Morgan’s flagship emerging-markets bond index.

The federal government said it remained committed to sustaining the reform programme and deepening investor confidence in Nigeria’s domestic financial market.