JUNE: UAE, Qatar and the long drawn out MSCI upgrade.

Qatar and the UAE were all nerves this June as the two awaited the MSCI upgrade-which was postponed from June to six months later in December. The two were denied an upgrade to ‘emerging markets status’

December 22, 2011 3:49 by Eva Fernandes

UAE, Qatar gain momentum in the run up to emerging status verdict

June 22, 2011

UAE and Qatar get another chance at making the grade for the coveted ’emerging market’ status on MSCI’s index. Will they make use of the six months breathing space?

Precious de Leon

The UAE and Qatar get to live another six months as ‘frontier markets’ in the eyes of Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Index. The news that index provider MSCI will extend the review period for reclassification must come as a sigh of relief for most of the people glued to this issue, Kipp thinks, since it was nearly evident the Qatar wasn’t going to cut the muster while UAE was only barely-possibly-hopefully going to make it.

“I don’t think investors in either markets were expecting an upgrade so this is a favorable outcome,” Arindam Das, head of HSBC’s securities services for Middle East, North Africa was quoted in a Reuters article.

So the two countries have got till the end of the year to get their stations in order. By then UAE’s Investment Map will have been one month into its November launch, for one. And who knows, maybe Qatar will eventually convince firms to raise the limit for foreign ownership from 25 percent to at least UAE’s limit of 49 percent—the MSCI prerequisite.

Will the UAE have what it takes for an MSCI upgrade?

December 11, 2011

As MSCI’s classification review draws nearer, questions around its impact on the UAE’s ailing business performance is in the spotlight. Will the UAE see the ranking as worth the change?

Precious de Leon

For the most part, it’s hard to disagree with analysts. The UAE continues to feel the blows of the economic crisis from a couple of years ago, even know as it prepares for a second crisis that may be brought on by the Euro debt. And while the rating will help put the UAE on the radars of investors around the world, the current circumstances around regulation, business ownership and current market conditions make it less appealing for discerning investors to consider the UAE, compared to say, India, China or even Latin America, which hold promise of cheap labour, and a outlined and established investment regulations and business ownership.

Of course steps are being made to roll out the red carpet for potential business. There’s that new Companies Law that was recently approved that sets “a general framework for public joint-stock companies to ensure the rights of all stakeholders, transparency and disclosure of financial statements and the efficiency and integrity of board of directors” –at leastthat’s how a Gulf News article described it.