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Countdown to €/£ parity | 102 comments (102 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Countdown to €/£ parity (4.00 / 3)
I was at first surprised to find Sweden at number 15 as the public debt has been mortgaged quite a bit since it skyrocketed during the 90ies crisis. Seeing Norway with its oil wealth at number 18 was also a bit curios.

Then I looked at the definition:

List of countries by external debt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"External debt" is defined as the total public and private debt owed to nonresidents repayable in foreign currency, goods, or services

Small countries has more international trade per capita, as borders are passed more often. Trade yields debt, and if trade is equal then debt is equally on both sides of the border, giving both countries more external (as opposed to internal) debt. A country can be on the top of the external debt list and have no problems at all if it has assets to cover every one of those debts on a moments notice.

So I would say that external debt in it self says very little.

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by A swedish kind of death on Fri Dec 12th, 2008 at 07:37:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, of far more interest ... (4.00 / 3)
... would be the balances on short term and long term external debt payable in foreign currency. Those are the values that can explode in domestic currency terms during a FXR melt-down, as many SE Asian nations discovered in the 90's.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Fri Dec 12th, 2008 at 10:48:30 PM EST
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Countdown to €/£ parity | 102 comments (102 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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