Net external debt - annual data, % of GDP

The external debt (or the foreign debt), at any given time, is the outstanding amount of the actual current (and not contingent) liabilities that require payment(s) of principal and/or interest by the debtor at some point(s) in the future and that are owed to non-residents by residents of an economy. The external debt is the portion of a country's debt that was borrowed from creditors outside the country, including commercial banks, other governments or international financial institutions (such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank). The assets/liabilities include debt securities, such as bonds, notes and money market instruments, as well as loans, deposits, currency, trade credits and advances due to non-residents. The loans must usually be paid in the currency in which they was made. In order to earn the needed currency, the borrowing country may sell and export goods to the lender's country. The data are expressed in % of GDP.

外债（external debt）指任意既定时点下，经济体居民对非居民所欠的、债务人未来需偿还本金及/或利息的当期（而非或有）未清偿实际负债总额。外债是一国从境外债权人处举借的债务份额，债权人涵盖商业银行、其他政府或国际金融机构（如国际货币基金组织（IMF）与世界银行）。相关资产与负债包括债务证券（debt securities，如债券、票据及货币市场工具（money market instruments）），以及应付非居民的贷款、存款、货币、贸易信贷（trade credits）与预付款项。此类贷款通常需以发放该贷款时所使用的货币进行偿付。为获取所需货币，借款国可向贷款国出口商品以赚取对应外汇。本数据集以占国内生产总值（GDP）的百分比形式呈现。