IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/quaeco/v87y2023icp181-190.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Covid-19 on corporate solvency and possible policy responses in the EU

Author

Listed:
  • Mirza, Nawazish
  • Rahat, Birjees
  • Naqvi, Bushra
  • Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas

Abstract

The massive contagion of new coronavirus (Covid-19) has disrupted many businesses across the European Union. This has resulted in an immense drag on the revenues and cash flows that may lead to a significant increase in corporate bankruptcies. In this paper, we investigate the impact of Covid-19 on the solvency profile of the firms in the EU member states. We introduce multiple stress scenarios on the non-financial listed firms and report a progressive increase in the probability of default, an increase of debt payback, and declining coverages. Our results indicate that the solvency profile of all firms deteriorates. The manufacturing, mining, and retail sector are most vulnerable to a decline in market capitalization and a reduction in sales revenues. The paper also examines the possible policy interventions to sustain solvency at a pre Covid-19 level. Our findings suggest that for a moderate deterioration in economic conditions, a tax deferral is sufficient. However, in the event of exacerbating business shocks, there should be hybrid support through debt and equity to avoid a meltdown. This study has important implications for policymakers, corporate managers, and creditors.

Suggested Citation

  • Mirza, Nawazish & Rahat, Birjees & Naqvi, Bushra & Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas, 2023. "Impact of Covid-19 on corporate solvency and possible policy responses in the EU," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 181-190.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:87:y:2023:i:c:p:181-190
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2020.09.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062976920301125
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.qref.2020.09.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Tahir, Mohammad Iqbal & Ali, Imran & Rehman, Ijaz Ur, 2014. "Is gold investment a hedge against inflation in Pakistan? A co-integration and causality analysis in the presence of structural breaks," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 190-205.
    2. Brogaard, Jonathan & Li, Dan & Xia, Ying, 2017. "Stock liquidity and default risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 486-502.
    3. Li, Xiafei & Luo, Di, 2019. "Financial constraints, stock liquidity, and stock returns," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. Emirmahmutoglu, Furkan & Omay, Tolga, 2014. "Reexamining the PPP hypothesis: A nonlinear asymmetric heterogeneous panel unit root test," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 184-190.
    5. Diego Romero-Ávila, 2012. "Multiple trend shifts and unit roots in US state income levels: implications for long-run growth," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 48(3), pages 641-661, June.
    6. Naeem, Muhammad & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Mubashra, Sana & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2019. "Modeling volatility of precious metals markets by using regime-switching GARCH models," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. Mselmi, Nada & Hamza, Taher & Lahiani, Amine & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2019. "Pricing corporate financial distress: Empirical evidence from the French stock market," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 13-27.
    8. Brei, Michael & Mohan, Preeya & Strobl, Eric, 2019. "The impact of natural disasters on the banking sector: Evidence from hurricane strikes in the Caribbean," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 232-239.
    9. Sami Attaoui & Patrice Poncet, 2013. "Capital Structure and Debt Priority," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 42(4), pages 737-775, December.
    10. Nasir, Muhammad Ali & Al-Emadi, Ahmed Abdulsalam & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2019. "Importance of oil shocks and the GCC macroeconomy: A structural VAR analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 166-179.
    11. Sakiru Adebola Solarin & Muhammad Shahbaz & Chris Stewart, 2018. "Is the consumption-income ratio stationary in African countries? Evidence from new time series tests that allow for structural breaks," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(38), pages 4122-4136, August.
    12. Korol, Tomasz, 2013. "Early warning models against bankruptcy risk for Central European and Latin American enterprises," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 22-30.
    13. Hernandez Tinoco, Mario & Wilson, Nick, 2013. "Financial distress and bankruptcy prediction among listed companies using accounting, market and macroeconomic variables," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 394-419.
    14. Ucar, Nuri & Omay, Tolga, 2009. "Testing for unit root in nonlinear heterogeneous panels," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 5-8, July.
    15. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Haller, Rebekka & Meier, Iwan & Tarhan, Vefa, 2017. "The impact of liquidity crises on cash flow sensitivities," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 225-239.
    16. Edward I. Altman, 2018. "Applications of Distress Prediction Models: What Have We Learned After 50 Years from the Z-Score Models?," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-15, August.
    17. Lin, Hsiou-Wei William & Lo, Huai-Chun & Wu, Ruei-Shian, 2016. "Modeling default prediction with earnings management," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 306-322.
    18. Tolga Omay & Muhammed Shahbaz & Mubariz Hasanov, 2020. "Testing PPP hypothesis under temporary structural breaks and asymmetric dynamic adjustments," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(32), pages 3479-3497, June.
    19. Park, Jin, 2019. "Financial constraints and the cash flow sensitivities of external financing: Evidence from Korea," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 241-250.
    20. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    21. Merton, Robert C, 1974. "On the Pricing of Corporate Debt: The Risk Structure of Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(2), pages 449-470, May.
    22. Naqvi, Bushra & Rizvi, S.K.A. & Uqaili, Hina Ahmed & Chaudhry, S.M., 2018. "What enables Islamic banks to contribute in global financial reintermediation?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 5-25.
    23. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Discriminant Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 193-194, March.
    24. Ohlson, Ja, 1980. "Financial Ratios And The Probabilistic Prediction Of Bankruptcy," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 109-131.
    25. Uchida, Hirofumi & Miyakawa, Daisuke & Hosono, Kaoru & Ono, Arito & Uchino, Taisuke & Uesugi, Iichiro, 2015. "Financial shocks, bankruptcy, and natural selection," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 123-135.
    26. Duan, Jin-Chuan & Kim, Baeho & Kim, Woojin & Shin, Donghwa, 2018. "Default probabilities of privately held firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 235-250.
    27. Ghulam, Yaseen & Derber, Julian, 2018. "Determinants of sovereign defaults," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 43-55.
    28. Syed Kumail Abbas Rizvi & Nawazish Mirza & Bushra Naqvi & Birjees Rahat, 2020. "Covid-19 and asset management in EU: a preliminary assessment of performance and investment styles," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(4), pages 281-291, July.
    29. Muhammad Shahbaz & Ijaz Ur Rehman & Talat Afza, 2016. "Macroeconomic determinants of stock market capitalization in an emerging market: fresh evidence from cointegration with unknown structural breaks," Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 75-99, March.
    30. Grundke, Peter & Kühn, André, 2020. "The impact of the Basel III liquidity ratios on banks: Evidence from a simulation study," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 167-190.
    31. Jean-Loup, Soula, 2017. "Measuring heterogeneity in bank liquidity risk: Who are the winners and losers?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 302-313.
    32. Furkan Emirmahmutoglu & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller & Tolga Omay, 2020. "Is real per capita state personal income stationary? New nonlinear, asymmetric panel‐data evidence," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(1), pages 50-62, January.
    33. Denzler, Stefan M. & Dacorogna, Michel M. & Muller, Ulrich A. & McNeil, Alexander J., 2006. "From default probabilities to credit spreads: Credit risk models do explain market prices," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 79-95, June.
    34. Corbet, Shaen & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian, 2020. "The contagion effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from gold and cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    35. Goodell, John W. & Huynh, Toan Luu Duc, 2020. "Did Congress trade ahead? Considering the reaction of US industries to COVID-19," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    36. Harris, Christopher & Roark, Scott, 2019. "Cash flow risk and capital structure decisions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 393-397.
    37. Schell, Daniel & Wang, Mei & Huynh, Toan Luu Duc, 2020. "This time is indeed different: A study on global market reactions to public health crisis," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    38. Sharif, Arshian & Aloui, Chaker & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2020. "COVID-19 pandemic, oil prices, stock market, geopolitical risk and policy uncertainty nexus in the US economy: Fresh evidence from the wavelet-based approach," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    39. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:2:p:831-868 is not listed on IDEAS
    40. Ayesha Afzal & Nawazish Mirza, 2012. "Interest Rate Spreads in an Emerging Economy: The Case of Pakistan’s Commercial Banking Sector," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 987-1004, January.
    41. Busch, Ramona & Koziol, Philipp & Mitrovic, Marc, 2018. "Many a little makes a mickle: Stress testing small and medium-sized German banks," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 237-253.
    42. Keefe, Michael O'Connor & Yaghoubi, Mona, 2016. "The influence of cash flow volatility on capital structure and the use of debt of different maturities," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 18-36.
    43. Kosuke Imai & In Song Kim, 2019. "When Should We Use Unit Fixed Effects Regression Models for Causal Inference with Longitudinal Data?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 63(2), pages 467-490, April.
    44. Afik, Zvika & Arad, Ohad & Galil, Koresh, 2016. "Using Merton model for default prediction: An empirical assessment of selected alternatives," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 43-67.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dai, Zhifeng & Luo, Zhuang & Liu, Chang, 2023. "Dynamic volatility spillovers and investment strategies between crude oil, new energy, and resource related sectors," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Daniel Zdolšek & Sabina Taškar Beloglavec, 2023. "Sustainability Reporting Ecosystem: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Overhaul during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhou, Fanyin & Fu, Lijun & Li, Zhiyong & Xu, Jiawei, 2022. "The recurrence of financial distress: A survival analysis," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 1100-1115.
    2. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Hedy Jiaying Huang & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Li Sun, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of financial distress: review of the empirical literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 1023-1075, April.
    3. Serrano-Cinca, Carlos & Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Bernate-Valbuena, Martha, 2019. "The use of accounting anomalies indicators to predict business failure," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 353-375.
    4. Mousavi, Mohammad M. & Ouenniche, Jamal & Xu, Bing, 2015. "Performance evaluation of bankruptcy prediction models: An orientation-free super-efficiency DEA-based framework," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 64-75.
    5. Asis, Gonzalo & Chari, Anusha & Haas, Adam, 2021. "In search of distress risk in emerging markets," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    6. Mark Clintworth & Dimitrios Lyridis & Evangelos Boulougouris, 2023. "Financial risk assessment in shipping: a holistic machine learning based methodology," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 25(1), pages 90-121, March.
    7. Mohammad Mahdi Mousavi & Jamal Ouenniche & Kaoru Tone, 2023. "A dynamic performance evaluation of distress prediction models," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 756-784, July.
    8. Abinzano, Isabel & Gonzalez-Urteaga, Ana & Muga, Luis & Sanchez, Santiago, 2020. "Performance of default-risk measures: the sample matters," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    9. Nguyen, Duc Nguyen & Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Dang, Le Phuong Xuan, 2022. "Uncertainty and corporate default risk: Novel evidence from emerging markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Duc Hong Vo & Binh Ninh Vo Pham & Chi Minh Ho & Michael McAleer, 2019. "Corporate Financial Distress of Industry Level Listings in Vietnam," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-17, September.
    11. Sumaira Ashraf & Elisabete G. S. Félix & Zélia Serrasqueiro, 2019. "Do Traditional Financial Distress Prediction Models Predict the Early Warning Signs of Financial Distress?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, April.
    12. John Nkwoma Inekwe, 2016. "Financial Distress, Employees’ Welfare and Entrepreneurship Among SMEs," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(3), pages 1135-1153, December.
    13. Inekwe, John Nkwoma & Jin, Yi & Valenzuela, Ma. Rebecca, 2018. "The effects of financial distress: Evidence from US GDP growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 8-21.
    14. Eduardo Acosta-González & Fernando Fernández-Rodríguez & Hicham Ganga, 2019. "Predicting Corporate Financial Failure Using Macroeconomic Variables and Accounting Data," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 53(1), pages 227-257, January.
    15. Vo, D.H. & Pham, B.V.-N. & Pham, T.V.-T. & McAleer, M.J., 2019. "Corporate Financial Distress of Industry Level Listings in an Emerging Market," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI2019-15, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    16. Alessandro Bitetto & Stefano Filomeni & Michele Modina, 2021. "Understanding corporate default using Random Forest: The role of accounting and market information," DEM Working Papers Series 205, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.
    17. Ahmed, Shamima & Alshater, Muneer M. & Ammari, Anis El & Hammami, Helmi, 2022. "Artificial intelligence and machine learning in finance: A bibliometric review," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    18. Hyeongjun Kim & Hoon Cho & Doojin Ryu, 2020. "Corporate Default Predictions Using Machine Learning: Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-11, August.
    19. David Alaminos & Agustín del Castillo & Manuel Ángel Fernández, 2016. "A Global Model for Bankruptcy Prediction," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-18, November.
    20. Frank Ranganai Matenda & Mabutho Sibanda & Eriyoti Chikodza & Victor Gumbo, 2022. "Bankruptcy prediction for private firms in developing economies: a scoping review and guidance for future research," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(4), pages 927-966, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Solvency; Coronavirus; Probability of default; Cash flows;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:87:y:2023:i:c:p:181-190. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620167 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.