Civil Conflict and Cross-Border Lending: A Sectoral, Micro Lender-Level Analysis of Syndicated Loans

This study examines empirically the impact of civil conflict on cross-border lending. Our sample covers 165 countries over the period 1984-2019 with loan data disaggregated at the economic sectoral level (primary, secondary and tertiary sectors), an analysis that is absent in existing literature. Our results indicate that cross-border lending to the primary sector is not significantly influenced by civil conflict, whereas cross-border lending to secondary and tertiary sectors is negatively impacted by the outbreak of civil conflict, leading to a decreased volume of loans or reversals of existing loans.