Emerging markets get temporary relief
But to surmise that it would be calmer conditions going forward is wrong
Emerging markets have faced easier financial conditions in recent weeks after a period of intense pressure. The sense of a heightened risk of a generalised assetclass shock has given way to relief among not just investors, but also policymakers in advanced and emerging countries, as well as in international institutions.
Policy adjustments in individual countries have had a beneficial impact. Yet the big change has been a less hostile external environment, from a weaker dollar and lower oil prices to looser financial conditions for emerging economies.
But before relaxing more, these economies need to realise that some of the external relief could prove both temporary and reversible, raising important issues for policy priorities.
By the beginning of September, the spread on emerging market bonds denominated in foreign currency had widened to 406 basis points compared to a low of 288 basis points on February 1 and 311 basis points at the beginning of the year, (as measured by the JP Morgan EMBI Global spread index. Coming on top on higher US yields (the 10-year Treasury has risen by almost 80 basis points since the start of the year), this has translated into higher borrowing costs for both sovereign and corporate debt while handing investors a yearto-date loss of 6 per cent on what is usually the least volatile and fragile subsegment of emerging markets.
The JP Morgan EM currency index also hit the year’s low around the beginning of September, losing almost 19 per cent yearto-date. By that same time, EM stocks had fallen 12 per cent, and were underperforming the S&P 500 index by 20 percentage points. The currency in Turkey, the other problem case, had depreciated from 3.80 to the dollar at the beginning of the year to almost 6.70, and remained fragile.
Easing tensions
Market tensions have eased since then. The average spread on external bonds tightened by 50 basis by the beginning of October, and now stands at 376 basis points. EM currencies have staged somewhat of a recovery, gaining more than 3 per cent.
Argentina concluded a new agreement with the IMF involving a reinvigorated policy framework and augmented financial support, laying the foundation for an appreciation in the currency. Turkey’s lira has also strengthened, closing last week’s trading session at 5.65. EM stocks however, have remained under pressure; EEM recorded a year-to-date loss of 15 per cent.
Individual country policy adjustments played a role in changing markets and investor sentiment. Depending on the country involved, these changes included interest rate hikes to stabilise foreign exchange markets, tighter fiscal policies, additional promises of pro-growth structural reforms and more countries approaching the IMF for financial support.
However, as this has remained a rather partial policy effort overall, the improved EM conditions would have likely not materialised without some relief on the external front. Since early September, the DXY Dollar Index has depreciated by just over 5 per cent, oil prices have retraced their high as has the yield on 10-year government bonds (albeit to a lesser extent).
Whether some of these more recent trends will continue remains an open question. Specifically, behind these calmer markets conditions for emerging markets we have seen an intensification of forces that would suggest renewed dollar strength and higher interest rates may lie ahead.
This does not include other risks identified recently at the IMF-World Bank annual meetings, such as lack of room for policy flexibility and historically high debt levels, as well as the growing tensions over budgetary policy between the new Italian government and the European Commission that led Moody’s to downgrade Italy’s sovereign credit rating to Baa3, just one notch above junk. The best way to think about emerging markets is in the context of a bigger ongoing regime change: a transition away from ample, consistent and predictable injection of central bank liquidity, and toward a more fundamentals-driven global economy and markets that is being undertaken as the balance of risks is tilted toward the downside.
This shift is far from easy, especially as it heightens the risks of both policy mistakes and market accidents.
Rather than hope for the recent market calm to continue, emerging economies should plan on the possible return of more externally-induced pressures. To this end, they should continue doing all they can to increase their financial resilience and enhance economic agility. The resulting benefits would extend beyond the individual countries. The more this is done, the less the risk of disruptive winds of contagion throughout what remains a technically fragile asset class.