FX debt and optimal exchange rate hedging

November 2025, Paper: "This paper examines optimal foreign currency (FX) hedging by non-financial corporations glob ally. Using a cross-country, firm-level dataset, we first document key patterns of FX borrowing across advanced (AEs) and emerging market economies (EMEs). We find that while FX debt is prevalent in both groups, its intensity varies considerably. We assess the optimality of firms’ exchange rate exposures using a risk-management framework where hedging serves to minimize the impact of cash flow volatility on firm value. Our results indicate that most firms hedge optimally, as exposures from FX debt are largely offset by other exposures, like foreign revenues and assets. While the distribution of exchange rate risk is broadly similar between AE and EME firms, the EME distribution has thicker tails, revealing a larger concentration of firms with significant, unhedged depreciation risk."