Citi Fixed Income Indices announced Tuesday that Chinese onshore bonds will be added to three of the firm's emerging markets and regional government bond indexes by February 2018, barring setbacks in areas such as accessibility.
A Citi news release said China has met the eligibility requirements for its bonds to be added to its emerging markets government bond index, its Asian government bond index and its Asia-Pacific government bond index.
If China is included in early 2018, its bonds will account for 52.45% of the emerging markets bond index, 56.56% of the Asia government bond index and 47.33% of the Asia-Pacific government bond index, effectively halving the weightings of existing constituent countries.
Tuesday's decision didn't add China to Citi's World Government Bond index, which continues to cover 23 markets. However, Citi announced that it would introduce a new WGBI-Extended index in July 2017, which will include the bonds of China, Korea and Israel.
