Item 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

INTEREST RATE RISK

A portion of our exposure to market risk for changes in interest rates relates to our highly liquid investment portfolio, with maturities of three months or less from original dates of purchase and are classified as cash equivalents on our consolidated balance sheet. We do not use derivative financial instruments in our highly liquid investment portfolio. We place cash and cash equivalents with various major financial institutions and highly rated money market accounts. Our investment policy has strict guidelines focusing on preservation of capital. The portfolio is comprised of various instruments including term deposits with banks, marketable securities and money market accounts. Our cash is principally invested in the U.S. dollar and China RMB serving as a natural hedge of our RMB denominated costs. As of March 31, 2019, the outstanding amount in the highly liquid investment portfolio was $0.5 billion, the largest components of which were Brazilian real, China renminbi and Indian rupee denominated money market accounts with an average return of 2.18%. A hypothetical 10% change in interest rates would not be expected to have a material effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows over the next fiscal year.

We had variable rate debt outstanding of approximately $1.5 billion as of March 31, 2019. Variable rate debt obligations consisted of borrowings under our term loans. Interest on these obligations is discussed in note 7 to the consolidated financial statements in Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data".

Our variable rate debt instruments create exposures for us related to interest rate risk. Primarily due to the current low interest rates, a hypothetical 10% change in interest rates would not be expected to have a material effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows over the next fiscal year.

As of March 31, 2019, the approximate average fair value of our debt outstanding under our term loan facilities that mature in November 2021 and June 2022, and Notes due February 2020, February 2023 and June 2025 was 99.9% of the face value of the debt obligations based on broker trading prices.

FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE RISK

We transact business in various foreign countries and are, therefore, subject to risk of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. We have established a foreign currency risk management policy to manage this risk. To the extent possible, we manage our foreign currency exposure by evaluating and using non-financial techniques, such as currency of invoice, leading and lagging payments and receivables management. In addition, we may borrow in various foreign currencies and enter into short-term foreign currency derivative contracts, including forward, swap, and option contracts to hedge only those currency exposures associated with certain assets and liabilities, mainly accounts receivable and accounts payable, and cash flows denominated in non-functional currencies.

We endeavor to maintain a partial or fully hedged position for certain transaction exposures. These exposures are primarily, but not limited to, revenues, customer and vendor payments and inter-company balances in currencies other than the functional currency unit of the operating entity. The credit risk of our foreign currency derivative contracts is minimized since all contracts are with large financial institutions and accordingly, fair value adjustments related to the credit risk of the counter-party financial institution were not material. The gains and losses on foreign currency derivative contracts generally offset the losses and gains on the assets, liabilities and transactions hedged. The fair value of currency derivative contracts is reported on the balance sheet. The aggregate notional amount of outstanding contracts as of March 31, 2019 amounted to $7.8 billion and the recorded fair values of the associated assets and liabilities were not material. The majority of these foreign exchange contracts expire in less than three months and all expire within one year. They will settle primarily in the Brazilian real, British pound, China renminbi, Euro, Hungarian forint, Indian rupee, Malaysian ringgit, Mexican peso, Singapore dollar, and U.S. dollar.

Based on our overall currency rate exposures as of March 31, 2019, including the derivative financial instruments intended to hedge the nonfunctional currency-denominated monetary assets, liabilities and cash flows, and other factors a 10% appreciation or depreciation of the U.S. dollar from its cross-functional rates would not be expected, in the aggregate, to have a material effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows in the near-term.