Pakistan holds 5% weight in Tundra Fonder's frontier market index

August 21, 2026 (MLN): Pakistan carried a 5% index weighting in the MSCI Frontier Markets ex-GCC (FMXGCC) Net Total Return Index as of August 2026, placing it among the 18 constituent markets tracked in a heterogenous asset class overview released by Swedish frontier-market investment manager Tundra Fonder.

The data, sourced from the World Bank, the United Nations and Bloomberg, positions Pakistan as one of Tundra Fonder's core markets alongside Kenya, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, each carrying a designated core-market flag in the firm's coverage universe.

Pakistan's underlying metrics reflect a large, liquid but comparatively undervalued equity market.

The country carries a population of 259mn, a nominal GDP of $407bn, and GDP per capita of $1,571  the lowest per-capita figure among the 21 markets covered in the dataset.

The market hosts 530 listed companies, the third highest count on the table alongside Vietnam and indonesia with market capitalization of $73bn.

Trading activity in Pakistan stood out on relative terms. Three-month average daily traded value (ADTV) came in at $147mn, the second-highest in the dataset after Vietnam's $639mn, while 38 companies recorded ADTV above $1mn  again second only to Vietnam.

Annual turnover-to-market-cap ratio for Pakistan stood at 52%, indicating comparatively high liquidity turnover relative to market size. Of the 530 listed firms, 17 carried market capitalization above $1bn.

Pakistan's market-cap-to-GDP ratio was recorded at 18%, well below several regional peers, while market-cap-per-population stood at $282  among the lowest in the sample, ahead only of Bangladesh's $197 and below BRVM's $500.

Regional comparison

Vietnam led the index with a 30% weighting the largest among constituents backed by a $515bn nominal GDP, $393bn market capitalization, 1,561 listed companies, and $639mn in three-month ADTV.

Romania followed with a 16% weighting ($429bn GDP, $150bn Mcp), and Morocco with 12% ($182bn GDP, $126bn Mcp).

Kazakhstan and Slovenia each carried 7% weightings. Kazakhstan recorded a market capitalization of $407bn against a $306bn GDP, yielding a market-cap-to-GDP ratio of 133% the highest in the dataset.

Slovenia posted a GDP per capita of $40,000 with a 49% market-cap-to-GDP ratio.

Kenya held a 5% weighting matching Pakistan, with a nominal GDP of $136bn, market capitalization of $38bn, and GDP per capita of $2,345.

Iceland and Croatia each carried 4% weightings; Iceland recorded the highest GDP per capita in the dataset at $97,500 ($17bn Mcp), while Croatia stood at $26,923 GDP per capita ($54bn Mcp).

Jordan and BRVM (Ivory Coast, Senegal, Benin) each held 2% weightings. Tunisia, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Estonia carried 1% weightings each, while Lithuania and Serbia rounded out the bottom at 0%.

Separately, under the "Small EM" classification outside the core FMXGCC weighting scheme, Tundra Fonder listed the Philippines, Indonesia, and Egypt.

Indonesia demonstrated the largest overall scale with $1,446bn nominal GDP, $710bn market capitalization, 1,016 listed companies, and $968mn in three-month ADTV.

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