Pakistan has featured in this column once before, but now looks unlikely to ever appear again. The country, long one of the best-regarded frontier markets in Asia Pacific, has joined the ranks of the emerging market countries, after an upgrade from index provider MSCI.
That was supposed to be a boon for a country that has been doing all the right things. Pakistan has managed to pull off impressive growth while getting inflation under control. Its more conservative approach to spending has helped trim the budget deficit. It has signed a landmark agreement with China which today learned its A-shares would be included in MSCI's emerging markets...