Singapore's GIC, Temasek Deny Pressuring MSCI Into Downgrading Indonesia – Media

Editorial Staff

22 October 2026

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and investment company Temasek have rejected allegations that they or their staff pressured index provider MSCI to consider downgrading Indonesia’s stock market classification, the Straits Times (of Singapore) reported yesterday.

Earlier this week, former Indonesian trade minister Muhammad Lutfi alleged that the two investors coerced MSCI to consider downgrading Indonesia, the ST said.

The former minister claimed that a downgrade could trigger market panic and create opportunities to buy Indonesian equities at lower prices.

Late last week, MSCI said that it was consulting on a proposal to reclassify the MSCI Indonesia Indexes from “Emerging Market” to “Standalone Market” status.

“Our investment decisions are not driven by index classifications or top-down views of a market, and instead by company- and asset-level fundamentals,” a GIC spokesperson was quoted by the publication as saying. “We have been invested in Indonesia for over 30 years across asset classes and will continue to invest where we find good, bottom-up, risk-adjusted opportunities.”

Fock Wai Hoong, head of Asia-Pacific excluding China and India at Temasek Global Investments, was quoted as saying that the allegations have “no basis and are patently untrue.”

MSCI’s benchmarks are widely used by international investors. The admission or removal of a country from an index can affect whether investors are able to hold certain assets.