what is the debt to gdp ratio 
the debt to gdp ratio is a metric that compares a country s public debt to its gross domestic product gdp it reliably indicates a country s ability to pay back its debts by comparing what the country owes with what it produces the debt to gdp ratio is often expressed as a percentage and it can also be interpreted as the number of years necessary to pay back debt if gdp is dedicated entirely to debt repayment formula and calculation of the debt to gdp ratiothe debt to gdp ratio can be calculated by this formula debt to gdp total debt of country total gdp of country begin aligned text debt to gdp frac text total debt of country text total gdp of country end aligned debt to gdp total gdp of countrytotal debt of country a country that s able to continue paying interest on its debt without refinancing and without hampering economic growth is generally considered to be stable a country with a high debt to gdp ratio typically has trouble paying off external debts also called public debts these are any balances owed to outside lenders creditors are apt to seek higher interest rates when lending in such scenarios 1extravagantly high debt to gdp ratios may deter creditors from lending money altogether 