Debt & Firm Vulnerability Jack Glen IFC March 2004
Why Do Firms Get into Trouble? Poor Management Technological Innovation Market Competition Demand Declines Business Cycle Crisis
Problem: Fixed Debt Service FX Denominated Debt Mismatched Revenues/Expenses FX Impact on Demand Short-Maturity Debt Inability to Roll-over Interest rate volatility Demand Declines Interest Coverage
How to Measure Leverage? Aggregate Measures External Debt Ratios Consumer Debt Component Firm-Level Measures Accurate, but what to Count? Reveals Distribution of Exposure Ability to Service Debt Varies
Excess Leverage? Domestic Bank Credit
Excess Leverage? Spot the Emerging Market Country Median, Total Liabilities/Total Assets
Declining East Asian Debt Levels Total Liabilities/Total Assets, Median
Korea: Total Liabilities/Total Assets % of Companies
Short-term Debt Vulnerability?
Too Much Short-Term Debt? Median Current Liabilities/Total Assets OECD, Low Middle & Upper Middle Income Countries
Too Much Short-Term Debt? Spot the Emerging Market Country Median, Total Current Liabilities/Total Assets
Excess External Leverage?
Private Flows to Emerging Markets $ Billions
East Asian Corporate Borrowers LT Debt/Total Debt, Firms with FX Debt & with no FX Debt Allayanis, Brown & Klapper (2003)
How Does Foreign Debt Impact Results? Allayanis, Brown & Klapper (2003) Foreign debt no worse than local debt for stock prices & interest coverage FX debt is used because it is longer tenor FX debt is used most when FX sales are available
Cash Flow and Interest Coverage Glen (2004) Cash Flow Volatility Business Cycle Currency Depreciation Interest Rate Increases ICR=EBITDA/Interest Expense What is impact of these factors on ICR?
The Data Osiris 41 Countries Manufacturing 7 Sectors 44,424 Firm Years
Interest Coverage Ratio All Countries & Firms, EBITDA/Interest Expense, 2000
Interest Collection Rate Brazil, All Firms (149), 2000
Thailand Interest Coverage Ratio (Median), GDP Growth (%) & Interest Rates (%)
The Findings Significant Business Cycle Effect -5% ΔGDP –1 Δ ICR Significant Sector Differences General Manufacturing Hit Hardest Significant Interest & Inflation Effects Both Negative & Economically Large
Developed and Emerging Markets Better fit for Emerging Markets GDP impact same DM sensitive to Inflation EM sensitive to Interest Rates
Impact of a 5% Decline in GDP All Countries & Firms, EBITDA/Interest Expense, 2000
Turnover & Margins Returns correlated with Business Cycle Margin Effects Hard to Discern Turnover Effects Strongly Negative
Conclusions Debt Service a major source of Vulnerability Business Cycle Impacts Significant Measuring Vulnerability Product Market Volatility Sensitivity to Business Cycle Does Market Structure Permit a Management Response?