Motivated by concerns over foreign currency
exposures of banks in Emerging Europe, we
examine the currency denomination of business loans made in Bulgaria during the period
2003-2007. We analyze a unique dataset including information on the requested and granted
currency for more than hundred thousand loans granted by one bank to sixty thousand
different firms. This data set allows us to disentangle demand-side from supply-side
determinants of foreign currency loans. We find that 32% of the foreign currency loans
disbursed in our sample were
actually requested in local currency by the firm. Our analysis
suggests that the bank lends in foreign currency, not only to less risky firms, but also when
the firm requests a long-term loan and when the bank itself has more funding in euro. These
results imply that foreign currency borrowing in Eastern Europe is not only driven by
borrowers who try to benefit from lower interest rates but also by banks hesitant to lend long-term in local currency and eager to match the currency structure of their assets and liabilities.
Dieser Eintrag ist Teil der Universitätsbibliographie.
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