Table:
| ($ in millions) |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| At December 31: | 2019 | 2018 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ 1,697 | $ 1,833 |
| Net investment in sales-type and direct financing leases (1) | 6,224 | 6,924 |
| Equipment under operating leases— external clients (2) | 238 | 444 |
| Client loans | 12,884 | 12,802 |
| Total client financing assets | 19,346 | 20,170 |
| Commercial financing receivables | 3,820 | 11,838 |
| Intercompany financing receivables (3) (4) | 3,870 | 4,873 |
| Total assets | $29,568 | $41,320 |
| Debt | 24,727 | 31,227 |
| Total equity | $ 2,749 | $ 3,470 |
Paragraphs:
Global Financing Financial Position Key Metrics
(1) Includes deferred initial direct costs which are eliminated in
IBM’s consolidated results.
(2) Includes intercompany mark-up, priced on an arm’s-length basis, on products purchased from the company’s product divisions which is eliminated in IBM’s consolidated results.
(3) Entire amount eliminated for purposes of IBM’s consolidated results and therefore does not appear in the Consolidated Balance Sheet.
(4) These assets, along with all other financing assets in this table, are
leveraged at the value in the table using Global Financing debt.
At December 31, 2019, substantially all financing assets were IT-related assets, and approximately 62 percent of the total external portfolio was with investment-grade clients with no direct exposure to consumers, an increase of 7 points year to year. This investment-grade percentage is based on the credit ratings of the companies in the portfolio.
We have a long-standing practice of taking mitigation actions, in certain circumstances, to transfer credit risk to third parties, including credit insurance, financial guarantees, nonrecourse borrowings, transfers of receivables recorded as true sales in
accordance with accounting guidance or sales of equipment under operating lease. Adjusting for the mitigation actions, the investment-grade content would increase to 67 percent, a decrease of 3 points year to year.
Question:
What is the increase / (decrease) in the cash from 2018 to 2019?
Answer: 1697 - 1833 = -136