External Debt
External debt is debt owed by residents, firms, or governments to foreign creditors.
Sovereign and external-debt terms used in public-credit, country-risk, and restructuring analysis.
Sovereign Debt and External Obligations covers public debt, deficits, fiscal stress, bailouts, sovereign debt, restructuring, debt ceilings, debt burdens, and macro-stability concepts used in finance.
Use these pages when government borrowing, debt sustainability, restructuring risk, fiscal balances, or debt overhang affects sovereign credit, currencies, rates, banks, or portfolios. It sits inside Sovereign Debt Crises and Restructuring, so readers can move up when the broader economics context matters.
Use the table below to choose the narrower economics branch before applying a term to a model, credit view, market interpretation, policy conclusion, or risk review. Move into the term page when the evidence source, calculation, institution, market convention, or risk exposure matters.
| Area | Use it for |
|---|---|
| External Debt | External debt is debt owed by residents, firms, or governments to foreign creditors. |
| International Debt | International debt is borrowing that crosses borders between sovereigns, companies, institutions, or foreign creditors. |
| Odious Debt | Odious debt is disputed sovereign borrowing alleged to lack public benefit or legitimate consent. |
| Overlapping Debt | Overlapping debt is public debt shared across multiple jurisdictions that affect the same taxpayers or economic base. |
| Preferential Debt | Preferential debt has priority repayment status over lower-ranking obligations in insolvency, restructuring, or statutory payment rules. |
| Sovereign Debt | Sovereign debt is borrowing by a national government, usually through bonds, bills, loans, or external official financing. |
Public-debt content is educational and does not provide legal, tax, investment, or sovereign-credit advice.
Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.
External debt is debt owed by residents, firms, or governments to foreign creditors.
International debt is borrowing that crosses borders between sovereigns, companies, institutions, or foreign creditors.
Odious debt is disputed sovereign borrowing alleged to lack public benefit or legitimate consent.
Overlapping debt is public debt shared across multiple jurisdictions that affect the same taxpayers or economic base.
Preferential debt has priority repayment status over lower-ranking obligations in insolvency, restructuring, or statutory payment rules.
Sovereign debt is borrowing by a national government, usually through bonds, bills, loans, or external official financing.