NBG Governor: Inclusion in new J.P. Morgan index set to drive capital into Georgian government bonds

“Foreign investors are demonstrating growing appetite for Georgian treasury bonds, a trend underscored by the inclusion of lari-denominated government debt in J.P. Morgan’s new USD 328 billion benchmark index,” National Bank of Georgia (NBG) Governor Natia Turnava announced.

According to the NBG Governor, heightened investor interest stems directly from Georgia’s robust macroeconomic fundamentals and the resilience of its economy against geopolitical shocks.

“It is by no means coincidental that J.P. Morgan chose Georgia to convene a conference of regional central bank governors, where a key panel was dedicated specifically to capital market development. We anticipate increased capital inflows through this channel,” Natia Turnava noted.

The newly established financial instrument, the J.P. Morgan GBI-EM Edge index, boasts a total market value of USD 328 billion, encompassing 425 fixed-income instruments across 24 local currencies in 26 countries. Georgian sovereign bonds have been allocated a 1.79% weighting within the index. Designed as a dedicated frontier market index, GBI-EM Edge aims to track local-currency government bond performance in high-yielding developing markets that offer enhanced accessibility for international institutional investors.

According to the NBG, the announcement coincided with a regional central bank governors’ roundtable hosted in Tbilisi by the NBG in collaboration with J.P. Morgan, marking the first time an event of this format has taken place in the region. Senior central bank management from nearly 15 nations, including Hungary, Poland, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Türkiye, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, joined international financial institutions and private sector executives at the summit.