The paper investigates the determinants of foreign currency borrowing by the private sector in the new member states of the European Union. We find that striking differences in patterns of foreign currency borrowing between countries are explained by the loan-to-deposit ratios, openness, and the interest rate differential. Joining the EU appears to have played an important role, by providing direct access to foreign funding, offering hedging opportunities through greater openness, lending credibility to exchange rate regimes, and raising expectations of imminent euro adoption. The empirical evidence suggests that regulatory policies to slow foreign currency borrowing have had only limited success.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by International Monetary Fund in its series IMF Working Papers with number
08/173.
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.: