Balance sheet effects, external volatility, and emerging market spreads

This paper studies the determinants of emerging market spreads, and thus of the cost of borrowing for emerging market sovereigns, using recent data from JP Morgans EMBI+ index for a panel of 19 countries. Controlling for traditional spread determinants, we focus on three additional factors whose importance is suggested by recent work: external shocks, the balance sheet effect of real devaluations, and the degree of current account leverage. We find clear and strong evidence that the variables in the foregoing categories have an economically and statistically significant relationship with spreads. In particular, we find a major role for the terms-of-trade volatility and the level of current account leverage in explaining spread variation. The result on current account leverage establishes an important link between a factor shown to make countries more vulnerable to sudden stops of capital flows, and the premium required by international investors on their foreign debt.