About

The BIS uses the term “global liquidity” to refer to the ease of financing in global financial markets. The BIS global liquidity indicators (GLIs) track credit to non-bank borrowers, covering both loans extended by banks and funding from global bond markets through the issuance of international debt securities (IDS). The main focus is on foreign currency credit denominated in three major reserve currencies (US dollars, euros and Japanese yen) to non-residents, ie borrowers outside the respective currency areas.

Metadata

Commentary

Developments in latest data for the BIS international banking statistics and global liquidity indicators.

Methodology

GLI methodology

Bank for International Settlements
Document explaining the methodology behind each of the indicators, including sources and estimations by BIS statisticians

Convention for country groupings

Bank for International Settlements
Country groupings used in BIS statistical commentaries and other BIS publications based on the country classification in the BIS Annual Economic Report.

Research and publications

Global liquidity: changing instrument and currency patterns

International (cross-border and foreign currency) credit, a key indicator of global liquidity, has continued to expand in recent years to 38% of global GDP. This growth has been driven by international debt securities issuance, while the role of banks has diminished - both as lenders and as investors in debt securities. The aggregate trend has been more pronounced for advanced economy than emerging market borrowers. ...

Recent enhancements to the BIS statistics

The BIS regularly seeks to enhance its statistical offerings to support monetary and financial stability analysis, in close coordination with central banks and other national authorities and international organisations. The exposure of economies to foreign currency risk is one potential source of vulnerability that has received increased attention in recent years, and the relevant data gaps are being addressed in the second phase of the Data Gaps Initiative (DGI) endorsed by the G20 (BIS-FSB-IMF (2015), FSB-IMF (2017)). Concurrently with this issue of the Quarterly Review, the BIS is expanding the data it publishes on exchange rates, on the currency composition of cross-border positions and on ...

Does the financial channel of exchange rates offset the trade channel?

While the trade channel indicates that an exchange rate depreciation will stimulate domestic economic activity, the financial channel can have the opposite effect. When banks and non-banks have foreign currency liabilities, an exchange rate depreciation has valuation effects that can lead to a tightening in domestic financial conditions. Using trade-weighted exchange rates and ...

Credit, commodities and currencies

Updated data suggest that global liquidity conditions may have begun to tighten for emerging economies. BIS General Manager Jaime Caruana said that shifting global financial conditions, along with maturing financial cycles in many emerging economies, were helping to drive disappointing economic growth, large shifts in exchange rates and sharp falls in commodity prices. These should not be seen as one-off shocks or headwinds but as an opportunity to move the global economy onto a more sustainable growth path.

Dollar credit to emerging market economies

We profile the US dollar debt incurred by borrowers in a dozen prominent emerging market economies (EMEs). These countries account for the bulk of total US dollar debt owed by EMEs. We measure the dollar borrowing of non-banks resident in these economies as well as that of their affiliates offshore, and relate these items to commonly used debt measures. We also discuss the limitations of our data. These data fail to ...

Global dollar credit: links to US monetary policy and leverage

Banks and bond investors have extended $9 trillion of US dollar credit to non-bank borrowers outside the United States. This has relevance for the discussion of global liquidity and global monetary policy transmission. This paper contributes to this policy discussion by analysing the links between US monetary policy, including unconventional monetary policy, leverage and flows into bond funds, on the one hand, and dollar credit extended to non-US borrowers, on the other. We find that prior to the crisis, banks drew on low funding rates and low-cost leverage to extend dollar credit to non-US orrowers. After the Federal Reserve announced its large-scale bond purchases in 2008, however, bond investors responded to compressed long-term rates by buying dollar bonds from non-US borrowers. The balance of dollar credit transmission has shifted from global banks to global bond investors.

Global liquidity: where it stands, and why it matters

These remarks apply the concepts of global liquidity and the financial cycle to analyse developments in the global financial system in the past decade or so and to understand the current configuration of risks and vulnerabilities. The focus is on how financial risk-taking, asset prices and credit expansion tend to move together across countries, even when these countries are at different stages of the macroeconomic business cycle. After the boom in the early 2000s and the bust in the crisis period 2007-09, the world is now in a new phase of global liquidity - with potential new risks. Although global liquidity conditions remain accommodative at the current juncture, more normal conditions will inevitably return at some point. Both policymakers and the private sector will need to be prepared for that adjustment. This means watching out for vulnerabilities that may have built up while conditions were accommodative. It also means taking action to build resilience in the financial system.

Understanding global liquidity

We explore the concept of global liquidity based on a factor model estimated using a large set of financial and macroeconomic variables from 24 advanced and emerging market economies. We measure global liquidity conditions based on the common global factors in the dynamics of liquidity indicators. By imposing theoretically motivated sign restrictions on factor loadings, we achieve a structural identification of the factors. The results suggest that global liquidity conditions are largely driven by three common factors and can therefore not be summarised by a single indicator. These three factors can be identified as global monetary policy, global credit supply and global credit demand.

Assessing global liquidity

Global liquidity has become a key focus of international policy debates over recent years. The concept of global liquidity, however continues to be used in a variety of ways and this ambiguity can lead to potentially undesirable policy responses. This feature attempts to further the understanding of the global liquidity concept, its measurement and policy implications. It argues that policy responses to global liquidity call for a consistent framework that considers all phases of global liquidity cycles, countering both surges and shortages.

Global liquidity - concept, measurement and policy implications

Global liquidity has become a key focus of international policy debates over recent years. This reflects the view that global liquidity and its drivers are of major importance for international financial stability. The concept of global liquidity, however continues to be used in a variety of ways and this ambiguity can lead to unfounded and potentially destabilising policy initiatives.

Global credit and domestic credit booms

US dollar credit is growing quickly outside the United States, especially in Asia, and in some economies it has outpaced overall credit growth. Cross-border sources of credit bear watching in view of their record of outgrowing overall credit in credit booms. Foreign currency and cross-border sources of credit raise policy issues.

FAQs

Data are released every quarter. You can find the target publication dates and the latest data reference period in the Statistics release calendar.

The BIS GLIs track foreign currency credit to non-bank borrowers, covering both loans extended by banks and funding from global ond markets through the issuance of international debt securities. The main focus is on foreign currency credit denominated in three major reserve currencies (US dollars, euros and Japanese yen) to non-residents, ie borrowers outside the respective currency areas. Borrowers are grouped based on the country in which they reside; accordingly, what constitutes foreign currency is defined from the perspective of the borrower country. For more background, see Global liquidity - concept, measurement and policy implications.

The GLIs are BIS-calculated indicators that use as input data from other BIS data sets and, to a small extent, from national sources. Tables E2 on foreign currency credit in US dollars, euros and Japanese yen to non-residents (ie borrowers outside the respective currency area) draw mainly on the locational banking statistics (LBS) and international debt securities (IDS) data sets. For comparison, data are also provided on credit to residents (euro area, Japan, United States), sourced from national financial accounts. Table E1 on banks' claims draws on data from the LBS and credit to the non-financial sector data sets. For more details, see the GLI methodology, Sections 2 and 3.

Historical data can be revised whenever the underlying input data are revised (see "What are the sources of the BIS global liquidity indicators?" FAQ above).

Go to Table E2.1 (in the global liquidity indicators section) and see the figures for the most recent quarter in the line labelled "Borrowers outside the United States". You will find the respective amount for borrowers in emerging market economies in the row below, labelled "Of which: emerging market economies". The same table will provide you with a further breakdown at the country level for 14 emerging market economies.

No, credit denominated in euros to non-banks residing in euro area countries is not included in the foreign currency credit table E2.2: Euro since the euro is not a foreign currency for these borrowers.

The composition of this group is consistent with those used in the BIS Annual Economic Report, extended to the broader set of countries covered in this data set, as described here.

The year-on-year or annual growth rates are computed using exchange rate- and break-adjusted changes and compounding quarterly growth rates over four quarters. For more details, see the GLI methodology, Section 4.