Businesses are in for a mighty debt hangover

It has beenGDP a jittery few months for the economies of the West. First came the nerve-rattling crisis in the banking sector. Then came the as-yet-unresolved prospect of a on its supposedly risk-free debt. Many now fret over what other hidden dangers lie in wait.An understandable area of concern is the hefty debts racked up by non-financial companies in recent decades, courtesy of historically low interest rates. Since 2000 non-financial corporate debt across America and Europe has grown from $12.7trn to $38.1trn, rising from 68% to 90% of their combined . The good news is that hardy profits and fixed-rate debts mean the prospect of a corporate-debt-fuelled cataclysm in the West remains, for now, mercifully slim. The bad news is that businesses will soon find themselves waking up to a painful that will constrain their choices in the years ahead.