External debt is the amount that is formed inthe result of the influx of loan capital into the country. In connection with the receipt of third-party funds, there are obligations to repay loans, loans, loans and interest payments. The total external debt in the world is more than two trillion dollars. At the same time loans are borrowed only from countries with a limited convertible or non-convertible currency. For others, external debt is not formally a problem. Such powers can fulfill their financial obligations to non-residents by means of the national currency, changing it to a foreign one. Thus, these countries pay external debt using not only external but also domestic assets. However, according to informal estimates, it is in these countries that financial obligations are greatest.
External debt can be private. It is about seven hundred trillion dollars. This amount is formed by the obligations of banks and firms.
There is also the concept of "external debt of the state".It is about 1.7 trillion. dollars. It is formed from external financial obligations of state bodies (including local authorities) and from government-guaranteed third-party obligations in the private sector.
By the size of the external debt, the leaders arethe following countries: Brazil, China, Russia, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, South Korea, Indonesia. By the beginning of the decade, all these powers had more than one hundred billion financial obligations, and Brazil even had two hundred billion dollars.
Along with this, experts point out that external debt is burdened not only by its size, but also by payments on the loan.
The severity of financial obligations can be considered in the example of Russia.
According to expert data, the amount of external debtthe country by the beginning of 2004 was equal to one hundred and eighty-two billion dollars. At the exchange rate in relation to GDP, this was 42%, compared to 120% for the annual export of services and goods. These indicators are regarded by the authors as moderate.
The severity of servicing financial obligationscan be determined with the help of another indicator. So, by 2003, Russia spent (according to expert estimates) about thirty-five billion dollars. Regarding the main source of foreign currency - income from exports of services and goods - it amounted to about 23%. A dangerous threshold is considered to be 20-25%.
Experts note that, despite the urgencythe problems of Russia's external debt, the content of its (problem) has changed somewhat. Today, private financial liabilities are more relevant. As a result of a significant inflow into the gold and foreign exchange reserves and the state budget of petrodollars, Russia's public debt tends to decline.
It should be noted that financial liabilitiescountries have not only negative, but also positive aspects. Often, modern economists point to the severity of loan servicing, the emergence of political and economic dependence on creditors, and the inefficient use of loan funds. To a large extent this position is connected with the developing debt crisis in different countries. Along with this, other economists point out that foreign loans significantly improve the economic state of the state. The new industrial powers use the inflow of third-party loan capital for their rapid development.
It is quite difficult to strike a balance betweenpositive and negative sides of external debt. However, it can be assumed that the positive aspects outweigh the negative in a situation where the borrowed funds are distributed so effectively that there are no difficulties in servicing financial obligations. For this, according to experts, loan capital should be directed not so much to the restoration of the state budget, but rather to long-term investments in the economy of the country.
