Foreign Currency Debt and the Exchange Rate Pass-Through

Foreign Currency Debt and the Exchange Rate Pass-Through

19/24

Salih Fendoğlu, Mehmet Selman Çolak, Yavuz Selim Hacıhasanoğlu

English

August 2019

We show that higher foreign currency indebtedness raises the degree of exchange rate pass-through to domestic producer prices. For identification, we use micro-level data from Turkey, an emerging market economy that has experienced large exchange rate movements over the last decade. Matching the Credit Register of Turkey with disaggregated manufacturing sector data on domestic prices and foreign currency revenues from international trade, we show that sectors with higher ex-ante net foreign-currency liabilities raise their prices significantly more following domestic currency depreciation. The results are stronger if foreign currency liabilities are short term.

Exchange rate pass-through, Producer prices, Foreign currency indebtedness, Emerging market economies

E31; F31