English to Romanian Bus/Financial Finance (general) economic growth

Access to debt financing plays a key role in the growth of firms, but rising costs are weighing heavily on growth. Sales growth, capital accumulation, and job creation are all significantly and positively correlated with changes in firm’s leverage ratio (i.e. ratio of debt to total assets), unlike retained earnings (or equity). This evidence can also be corroborated at the industrial level – the only exception is that changes in leverage ratios are insignificantly correlated with employment creation in the agricultural sector. Lack of external funding will therefore constrain growth, although continued reliance on credit institutions may be counter-productive in the longer term, since firms with high leverage ratios are more vulnerable to economic shocks due to their obligation to fixed debt servicing.