Government debt
In public finance, government debt, also known as public interest, public debt, national debt and sovereign debt, is the total amount of debt owed at a point in time by a government or state to lenders. Government debt can be owed to lenders within the country (also described as internal debt) or owed to foreign lenders (external debt). Government debt contrasts to the annual government budget deficit, which is a flow variable that equals the difference between government receipts and spending in a single year. The debt is the accumulation of all prior deficits. The government is typically obligated to pay interest on its debt.