(Oct 8): FTSE Russell will upgrade Greek equities to developed-market status after the stocks spent a decade within the emerging asset class, crowning an economic turnaround following the euro member’s debt crisis.
Currently classified as an advanced emerging market, Greece will switch to developed indexes as of Sept 21, 2026, FTSE Russell said in a statement late Tuesday. The Athens Stock Exchange gauge jumped as much as 1.4% on Wednesday (Oct 8), extending its year-to-date advance to 42%.
The move will open Greek stocks to more investors, including those tracking developed-market indexes. The country nearly tumbled out of the common currency during the last decade as the global financial crisis exposed the weakness of its economy, which — after painful adjustments — has outperformed most of its European Union peers.
“This development creates new opportunities” for listed companies and is set to “enhance the competitiveness and size of Greek business structures,” Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said in a statement. It also sends a strong message about the country’s robust economy, he added.
Greece was one of six EU countries that had a budget surplus in 2024 and it expects to achieve another in 2025. The nation has also repaid — earlier than scheduled — bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund and plans to do the same with some EU rescue aid.
Moody’s Ratings lifted Greece’s credit score to an investment grade in March, citing improved public finances and resilience to potential shocks.
Yianos Kontopoulos, the CEO of the Athens bourse, called the equities upgrade a “landmark achievement” that validated its strategy aimed at positioning the Greek capital market “alongside the world’s most established exchanges”.
The development is “expected to significantly expand the pool of international investors eligible to invest in the Greek capital market, attracting substantial capital inflows from funds tracking developed market indexes,” he said in a statement.
Since FTSE Russell’s announcement in September 2015 that it will cut Greek equities to emerging-market status, the Athens index has returned nearly 300%, more than twice as much as the MSCI emerging-market stock benchmark.
Fellow index provider MSCI Inc ranks Greece as an emerging market. In its review in June, MSCI said the Athens exchange failed to meet new size and liquidity persistency requirements needed for an upgrade.
The move comes amid an ongoing, all-stock offering from Euronext NV to acquire at least 67% of the Greek stock market operator. The Athens bourse’s board backed the bid in July, saying it would boost the local market’s resiliency and support European consolidation.