Definitions for "Federal Debt"
Related Terms:
National debt, Debt, Public debt, Government debt, External debt, Outstanding debt, Debt relief, Debt management plan, Debt, Senior debt, Debt restructuring, Mezzanine debt, Debt-service ratio, Subordinated debt, Loan guarantee, Debt financing, Unsecured, Total debt, Student loan, Debt ratio, Unsecured debt, Subordinated loan, Debt refinancing, Deficiency, Junior debt, Debt consolidation loan, Offset, Funded debt, Bad debts, Long-term debt, Debt consolidation, Defeasance, Bad debt, Debt ratios, Secured loan, Redeem, Full faith and credit, Cross-collateralization, Loan, Repayment, Debt service fund, Nondischargeable debt, Cdo, Short-term debt, Unsecured note, Unsecured loan, Liquidate, Chapter 13 bankruptcy, Consumer debt, Long term debt
The amount by which a governments expenditures exceed its tax revenues. The...
The current dollar sum of obligations equal to the accumulated past deficits minus surpluses of the government.
the cumulative amount that the federal government owes
Gross federal debt is the sum of "national public debt," or debt held by the public ($3.6 Trillion at the end of 1995), and debt owed to federal government accounts ($1.3 Trillion at the end of 1995).
The accumulation of borrowings over the years. The federal debt has increased from about $900 billion when President Reagan took office, to $5.6 trillion in 2001. Over half of the federal debt is due to high military spending.
The gross federal debt is divided into two categories: debt held by the public, and debt the government owes itself. Another category is debt subject to legal limit (definitions above).
The accumulated total of all past federal deficits and surpluses since Confederation. Canada's federal debt reached $574.3 billion on March 31, 1996. Two decades ago, the federal debt was about $25 billion. The debt is now equal to almost 74 per cent of our annual economic output (debt-to-GDP ratio). More than $115 billion of that debt is owed to foreign creditors. The gross debt is the total amount the government owes. It consists both of market debt in the form of outstanding securities such as Treasury bills and Canada Savings Bonds; and internal debt owed mainly to the superannuation fund for government employees. The net debt is the gross debt minus the government's financial assets such as loans, investments and foreign exchange accounts. Interest payments on the debt are often called debt charges. At $46.9 billion in 1995-96, they represented about 29.5 cents of every dollar in revenue collected by the federal government.
The total amount the federal government owes because of past deficits. The federal debt is made up of such debt obligations as Treasury bills, Treasury notes and Treasury bonds. Congress imposes a ceiling on federal debt, which has been increased on occasion, when accumulated deficits near the ceiling. In the mid-1990s, the federal debt was more than $5 trillion. The interest dues on the federal debt is one of the major expenses of the federal government. The federal debt, which is the total debt accumulated by the government over many years, should not be confused with the federal budget deficit, which is the excess of spending over income by the federal government in one fiscal year.