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national debt
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National Debt
Debt incurred by the central government of a country to its own people and institutions and also to overseas creditors. A government can borrow from the public by means of selling interest-bearing bonds, for example, or from abroad. Traditionally, a major cause of national debt was the cost of war but in recent decades governments have borrowed heavily in order to finance development or nationalization, to support an ailing currency, or to avoid raising taxes.
Government budgets are often planned with a deficit (shortfall) that is funded by overseas borrowing. In the 1980s most governments adopted monetary policies designed to limit their borrowing requirements, both to reduce the cost of servicing the debt (paying off the interest), and because borrowing money tends to cause inflation.
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balance of payments
bank
Bank of England
building society
capitalism
command economy
council tax
credit (economics)
debt
economic activity
electronic commerce
enterprise zone
euro
European Free Trade Association
European Union
finance, sources of
financial institution
free enterprise
free trade
gross domestic product
gross national product
hire purchase
inflation (economics)
International Monetary Fund
loan
manufacturing industry
monetarism
mortgage
national debt
National Economic Development Council
nationalism (politics)
overdraft
pension
private enterprise
private finance initiative
private sector
privatization
public sector
public spending
service industry
single European currency
student finance
taxation
unemployment
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