Australia recorded a Government Debt to GDP of 20.48 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2012/2013 based on a GDP of $1½ trillion. Government Debt To GDP in Australia averaged 20.20 Percent from 1989 until 2013, reaching an all time high of 31.70 Percent in 1994 and a record low of 9.70 Percent in 2007. Government Debt To GDP in Australia is reported by the Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM). Generally, Government debt as a percent of GDP is used by investors to measure a country ability to make future payments on its debt, thus affecting the country borrowing costs and government bond yields. This page includes a chart with historical data for Australia Government Debt To GDP.
Government Debt to GDP
Government debt as a percent of GDP, also known as debt-to-GDP ratio, is the amount of national debt a country has in percentage of its Gross Domestic Product. Basically, Government debt is the money owed by the central government to its creditors. There are two types of government debt: net and gross. Gross debt is the accumulation of outstanding government debt which may be in the
form of government bonds, credit default swaps, currency swaps, special drawing rights, loans, insurance and pensions. Net debt is the difference between gross debt and the financial assets that government holds. The higher the debt-to-GDP ratio, the less likely the country will pay its debt back, and more likely the
country is to default on its debt obligations.
Historically, the government of Australia has never defaulted on its debt and its bonds are AAA rated by all of the major credit rating agencies. These factors have made Australian debt instruments very safe investments.
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