More to Chile’s short-term debt than meets the eye

Chile’s short-term external debt burden is one of the largest in the emerging world, but there is more to it than meets the eye. A large chunk reflects intercompany lending, and most of this is concentrated in the mining sector. Accordingly, in contrast to other EMs with large short-term external debts, Chile is not particularly vulnerable to rising US treasury yields. The bigger risk is a collapse in copper prices.