{"text":[[{"start":9.02,"text":"Indonesia’s stock market tumbled on Friday after global index provider MSCI warned it could exclude the country from its indices, deepening concerns about investability in south-east Asia’s largest economy."}],[{"start":21.3,"text":"Shares plunged 8 per cent when the market opened, triggering a trading halt, after the warning from MSCI, which could lead to billions of dollars of outflows from the market."}],[{"start":30.6,"text":"MSCI, whose indices are closely followed by emerging market investors, had warned this year that it could downgrade Indonesia from emerging market status. It cited concerns over market opacity, concentrated shareholdings and insider trading."}],[{"start":45.7,"text":"The index provider suggested Indonesia could instead be labelled as a frontier market, signifying riskier status."}],[{"start":52.12,"text":"However on Thursday MSCI said it was considering downgrading Indonesia to standalone market status, which would exclude the country’s equities entirely from its indices."}],[{"start":62.7,"text":"“Feedback from market participants suggests that a reclassification to Frontier Markets would not properly recognize the depth of the market problems,” a statement from the index provider said."}],[{"start":73.1,"text":"Globally MSCI classifies Palestine, Ukraine, Argentina and Zimbabwe as standalone markets. In June Bulgaria was upgraded from a standalone market to a frontier market. There are currently no countries in the Asia Pacific region classified as standalone markets."}],[{"start":90.02,"text":"Indonesia has already been the world’s worst-performing stock market this year."}],[{"start":93.86,"text":"The country’s regulators have attempted to address investor concerns with reforms but MSCI said investors believed these had not gone far enough."}],[{"start":102.7,"text":"“Market participants have indicated to MSCI that, to date, sufficient progress has not been observed consistently across the Indonesian equity market,” the index provider said in its statement late on Thursday, citing “significant concerns” around market dysfunction."}],[{"start":117.3,"text":"“Accordingly, MSCI considers Indonesia’s continued classification as an Emerging Market no longer appropriate and is launching a consultation on a proposal to reclassify Indonesia as a Standalone Market.”"}],[{"start":130.82,"text":"A downgrade to standalone status “basically means the international investment community will turn its back on the Indonesian market”, said Chris Leahy, executive director of Barbican Advisory, a global research firm. “It’s quite a significant impact.”"}],[{"start":145.62,"text":"He said the announcement still gave Indonesian regulators time to introduce reforms. The index provider was “basically saying you’re in limbo for another seven months”, he said, noting that the country’s authorities already “had plenty of time”."}],[{"start":160.06,"text":"Homin Lee, senior macro strategist at Lombard Odier, said the threat of a downgrade to standalone status might be a “negotiation tactic” on the part of MSCI in order to signal to Indonesia that a reclassification to frontier market status was a real possibility and push for more reforms."}],[{"start":183.78,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792118633_6305.mp3"}