Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
Public debt in Latin America - statistics & facts
Public debt, also know as sovereign debt or national debt, is the amount owed by a government to its lenders, which can be foreign (external debt) or from within the country (internal debt). Governments create debt through many ways, for instance, by issuing bonds or borrowing from international institutions. On the other hand, it compensates such payment obligations with revenues collected via taxes, for example. A budget deficit (when government’s expenses exceed revenues) implies enlarging the volume of the outstanding public debt.
