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Europe’s Corporate Debt Binge Risks Years of Post-Pandemic Pain
Well after the coronavirus pandemic has passed, Europe could find the most damaging economic legacy is not the vast piles of government debt but the hundreds of billion euros in liabilities that have landed on companies. Businesses were driven to bank loans and bond issues -- made affordable by state guarantees and central-bank stimulus -- to survive the shutdowns that cut off their cashflows this year. When that crisis support ends, their finances risk being stretched to breaking point, and small firms are already sounding the alarm. Politicians are being asked to help viable companies clean up their balance sheets, ... (full story)