Definition: This entry records the cumulative total of all government borrowings less repayments that are denominated in a country's home currency. Public debt should not be confused with external debt, which reflects the foreign currency liabilities of both the private and public sector and must be financed out of foreign exchange earnings.
Source: CIA World Factbook - Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of January 1, 2012
See also: Public debt mapRelated News
Bahrain needs to cut public debt after 2012 spending boost -IMF
Reuters - 5/16/2013 10:06:14 AM
DUBAI, May 16 (Reuters) - Bahrain, which last year boosted state spending to quell political unrest, urgently needs to reform its economy to stop its debt burden becoming unsustainable, The International Monetary Fund said. Bahrain upped its ...
Fitch agency lifts Greek government rating by 1 notch to B- _ still deep in junk territory
Washington Post - 5/14/2013 4:49:28 PM
On Monday, the finance ministers from the 16 other European Union countries that use the euro approved the ... It was the second lowest rate in 28 equivalent auctions that year. The Public Debt Management Agency said it raised 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 ...
Greece sells debt cheaper as loan gets disbursed
Yahoo! News - 5/14/2013 12:38:56 PM
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece saw the interest rate it has to pay to get investors to lend it money fall further Tuesday, a day after its European creditors backed the release of the country's next batch of rescue loans. The Public Debt Management Agency ...
China's debt: a crisis in the making?
CNN Money - 5/13/2013 1:55:52 AM
China's debt has grown substantially in the past decade, fueling infrastructure projects. China's credit boom has saddled unworthy businesses with large loans, fueled the country's shadow banking system and put local governments on the hook for ...
World debt is 313 percent of global GDP
Salon - 5/13/2013 2:41:49 PM
For developed economies, it’s $170,401. The U.S. alone has total per-capita indebtedness of $176,833, including all public and private debt.” “Increasingly, ‘debt’ is seen as a dirty word,” the ING research team said in a report ...
Global Government Debt Is Already 80% Of Global GDP
ETF Daily News - 5/17/2013 6:11:49 PM
We know meantime the indebtedness per country with Japan as the big winner with a government debt to GDP ratio close to 220% (source ... The world GDP was some $70 trillion at the end of 2012. In developed economies debt amounted to $157 ...
Nemat Shafik: governments must tackle public debt and climate change
The Guardian - 5/14/2013 8:24:13 PM
Speaking in the third lecture of the Global Public Leaders Series in Washington, Nemat Shafik said the two biggest issues for modern governments were public debt and climate ... of keeping energy cheap, countries continue to subsidise.
Debt becoming serious problem in Netherlands
The Irish Times - 5/17/2013 11:55:25 PM
With the third highest inflation rate in the EU, one household in seven in the Netherlands is unable to pay its bills ... per cent compared to March and 20.4 per cent compared to April 2012. Uncertainty in the workplace is also increasing, as King Willem ...
Europeans disillusioned and divided by debt crisis, survey finds
The Guardian - 5/14/2013 6:15:22 PM
The survey found that Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, remains by a wide margin Europe's most popular leader, not only at home but also abroad ... their national executive is doing a good job dealing with the euro crisis."
Harper says household debt not his biggest worry
Yahoo! News - 5/16/2013 7:17:26 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Canada's soaring consumer debt is backed by solid assets, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday, saying he was more worried about economic problems outside the country. Canadian households now owe C$1.65 for every dollar ...
China's debt problem sparks worries
Yahoo! Finance - 5/13/2013 7:18:00 AM
The world's second largest economy has a debt problem. China's credit boom has saddled unworthy businesses with large loans, fueled the country's shadow banking system and put local governments on the hook for billions. Swiss bank UBS calculates ...
Debt dynamics in the eurozone
Financial Times - 5/13/2013 1:37:23 PM
These are the relevant data for the three mentioned countries. It is quite clear that Spanish debt dynamics are far worse than those of France and Germany. French and German net public debt started off at higher levels, relative to gross ...
US wins breathing space on debt ceiling
Financial Times - 5/17/2013 9:32:15 PM
The US will not have to raise the federal debt ceiling until September, said Treasury secretary Jack Lew on Friday, in another sign of how the resurgence of tax revenues is changing the politics of US deficits. In a letter to Congress, Mr Lew said that he ...
CEE Morning Briefing: Hungarian Debt Level
Wall Street Journal - 5/17/2013 9:14:57 AM
The outlook for Hungary’s sovereign borrowing needs comes into focus on Friday. The Hungarian central bank said the country’s public debt rose to 82.2% of gross domestic product at the end of March from 79.2% at the end of 2012. The ...
Can art change the world?
CNN - 5/18/2013 9:35:14 AM
(CNN)-- "If you give me Times Square, I want to give it back to the people." JR, the 30-year-old globetrotting French street artist, could well say the same about the slums of Kenya or the favelas of Brazil, where he has created large-scale ...
