From Crisis to Comeback, Greece Eyes Return to Developed Markets

When Greece’s stock market shut for five weeks in 2015 as capital controls gripped the country and its banks buckled under the debt crisis, a return to developed-market status looked remote.

Shares of Greek banks plunged 94% that year and liquidity evaporated, leaving the market smaller than Egypt’s or Morocco’s. A decade on, Greece is edging back toward the developed world. With MSCI Inc. closer than ever to upgrading the country from emerging-market status, companies say Greek stocks are well positioned to compete for global capital as the economy emerges as the euro area’s biggest turnaround story.