Public Debt

Public debt, also called Sovereign Debt, is the debt owed by the State to its citizens or to other countries.

Public debt is the sum of the debts owed by a state, and is expressed in monetary units and as a percentage of gross domestic product. Debt as a proportion of GDP indicates the importance of the debt to the country's economy, since it represents the percentage of GDP that the country would have to spend to repay its debt.

When the government needs to finance itself, it issues debt securities (treasury bills, bonds or debentures), which are purchased by banks, individuals or other countries.

In this ranking you can see the public debt by country

Related terms
Bonds | Debt | External Debt | Economy | Financing | Treasury Bills | Corporate Bonds | GDP