BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Policy during the recovery The combination of increasing debt and depressed output led to rising ratios of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) in many advanced economies and heightened concern about whether the growth in debt could be sustained without unsettling financial markets.
Although rates on commercial paper and bank loans are well below yields on new long-term bonds, firms have evidently judged that now is an opportune time to lock in long-term funding and avoid the liquidity risks that can be associated with heavy reliance on short-term funding.