What Explains the Declining Corporate Debt Maturity of Pakistani Firms? The Analysis of Demand and Supply-Side Factors

The debt-maturity structures of listed firms in Pakistan have shown significant decline over the last decade. In this study, we investigate changes in both the demand-side and supply-side factors that are responsible for this decline. For this purpose, we study 364 firms for a period of seventeen years, i.e. 1996 to 2012. Analysis of the demand-side factors reveals that the decrease in debt maturity is significantly explained by agency and maturity matching theories while information asymmetry theory has limited explanatory power. Further, analysis of the supply-side factors such as loans granted to private sector explains much of the reason of decrease in debt maturity structures. Overall, both demand and supply-side factors are responsible for the declining debt-maturity structures of Pakistani firms; however, much of the decrease is attributed to supply-side rather than firms' own characteristics or demand-side factors