The European debt problems have increased uncertainty and a renewed aversion to risks, and are causing investors to flee riskier assets such as stocks and junk bonds for safer assets such as U.S. Treasury debt. These shifts will have a modest negative net effect on U.S. economic growth in the near term.
In 2017, the IFC and the European Committee of Central Balance Sheet Data Offices (ECCBSO) published a report which highlights the usefulness of firms’ individual financial statements (IFC 2017a). The report shows that the coverage of firm-level balance sheet information has improved. Yet, comparing data across different jurisdictions, and matching balance sheet data with other statistics, remains challenging.