The Impact of the 2008-2009 Global Crisis on Manufacturing Firms’ Fixed Asset Purchases: The Case of Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Abstract

We examine the impact of the 2008-2009 Crisis on two dimensions of manufacturing firms in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, i.e., receivables collection (whether the customers pay after the delivery rather than before or on the date of delivery) and financing of manufacturing firms’ fixed asset purchases (what type of financing they used before and after the 2008-2009 Crisis). We use the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS), i.e., BEEPS IV and BEEPS V data to represent the pre-Crisis and post-Crisis periods respectively. Our analysis indicates that the percentage of purchases paid by the customers of the manufacturing firms significantly decline from the pre-Crisis to the post-Crisis period. This finding suggests that manufacturing firms tighten their payment policies and are not as lenient with their customers post-Crisis. In addition, we find that the percentage of manufacturing firms’ fixed asset purchases paid for by internal financing significantly increases, whereas the percentage of fixed asset purchases paid for by owner’s contribution and supplier credit significantly decline post-Crisis. These findings suggest that as a result of the 2008-2009 Crisis, manufacturing firms in these countries seem to rely more on internal funding which may be due to tighter availability of external sources or drainage of shareholders funds (not enough cash) post-Crisis.