The EM Bond Local (GBI-EM) asset class is defined loosely as bonds issued in the local currency and under domestic law by the central government of certain emerging market sovereigns, where the bonds are often or always found in the portfolios of international investors.
At FlowPro, we added (GBI-EM) to the shorter, simpler name “EM Bond Local” to indicate that the vast majority of the bonds in this asset class are members of the most popular subindex (“Global Diversified”) of J.P. Morgan’s popular EM local currency sovereign bond index family – the “Global Bond Index – Emerging Markets” (GBI-EM) – which is a convenient way of keeping track of the performance of the asset class.
Although there are around one hundred and fifty EM economies in the world, there are only around twenty countries’ bonds – the largest, most actively traded – in the GBI-EM Global Diversified. It makes little difference to the dynamics of the asset class whether we include or exclude the remaining bond markets. We usually show the dynamics of the twenty GBI-EM GD members (as of June 2025) plus a further five.
Dynamic 1: Foreign holdings
Dynamic 1 (transformed): Foreign flows (monthly change in local currency value)
Dynamic 2: Total quantity outstanding
Dynamic 2 (transformed): flow (monthly change in stock)
Asset Class Dynamics: EM Bond Hard (EMBI)
About the Asset Class
The EM Bond Hard (EMBI) asset class is defined loosely as bonds issued in US dollars under foreign law by the central government of certain emerging market sovereigns, where the bonds are often or always found in the portfolios of international investors.
At FlowPro, we added (EMBI) to the shorter, simpler name “EM Bond Hard” to indicate that the vast majority of the bonds in this asset class are members of the most popular subindex (“Global Diversified”) of J.P. Morgan’s popular EM hard currency sovereign bond index family – the “Emerging Markets Bond Index” (EMBI) – which is a convenient way of keeping track of the performance of the asset class.
Although there are around one hundred and fifty EM economies in the world, there are around eighty countries’ bonds – the largest, most actively traded – in the EMBI Global Diversified. It makes little difference to the dynamics of the asset class whether we include or exclude the remaining bond markets. We usually show the dynamics of the eighty GBI-EM GD members (as of June 2025).
