International reserves, external debt maturity, and the reinforcement effect for financial stability

This paper studies how the maturity structure of external debt is affected by international reserves and how they reinforce financial stability through a more crisis-resilient maturity structure. We show in an illustrative theoretical model that reserves lengthen the maturity of external debt via a flattening of the yield curve. Using data of 66 emerging and developing countries and applying different econometric approaches, we find robust evidence that reserves increase the share of long-term (LT) relative to short-term (ST) external debt. Results hold for private and public external debt individually. Taking reserves and their effect on the debt maturity structure together, they reinforce financial stability.