Fiscal deficits must be cut to reduce debt levels.

Private and public debt levels are high and possibly unsustainable.

This continued until 2007 2008, when Spanish debt levels became excessive.

National debt, too, has risen sharply.

In Lebanon, persisting high levels of public debt forced the Government to direct much of its expenditure towards debt service.

We cannot do that with national debt.

Some worry about America s increasing national debt.

They could contrast their high growth rates with Europe s high levels of debt.

In March, household debt levels reached a record high of 44 of income.

First, they will not be weighed down by high levels of public debt.

The country is also burdened with high levels of debt and limited resources.

7. Stresses that debt sustainability depends upon a confluence of many factors at the international and national levels, underscores that no single indicator should be used to make definitive judgements about debt sustainability, and emphasizes that country circumstances should be taken into account

But the debate about austerity and the cost of high public debt levels misses a key point Public debt owed to foreigners is different from debt owed to residents.

And large deficits and high debt levels decrease the prospects for a long boom.

Banks have less debt relative to their equity levels than they had in 2007.

CAMBRIDGE Greece will default on its national debt.

And, to stabilize debt GDP ratios, the denominator must start rising otherwise, debt levels will become unsustainable, despite all efforts to reduce deficits.

Action at the local, national and regional levels

But even institutionalized monetary austerity has not stopped national public debt levels from reaching 50 100 of GDP in Europe (higher in countries Greece and Italy) and surpassing 100 in the US.

First, different countries have different capacities to sustain public debt, depending on their initial deficit levels, existing debt burden, payment history, and policy credibility.

In Europe, the market for Greek debt has frozen, and interest rate spreads between Irish and German euro denominated debt recently reached alarming levels.

Fiscal austerity helped to reverse the rising trend in public debt, and then reduced it to more manageable levels (debt nonetheless remains comparatively high).

Now China is experiencing a fourth instance of elevated debt risk, this time characterized by high levels of accumulated local government and corporate debt.

But domestic savings remain low in the face of persistently high levels of public debt.

Five years on, public, private, and external debt are at record levels in many countries.

That is why countries build up debt levels that put them in the danger zone.

In Iraq, excessive external debt levels and massive war reparations are major obstacles to reconstruction.

Moreover, private and public sector debt levels tend to be much lower in the emerging economies.

Unemployment rates and budget deficits are higher, and public debt GDP ratios are at record levels.

Worse still, high levels of public debt, like high taxes, cause serious problems for economic performance.

Higher incomes would boost US savings, reducing households dependence on debt, even as they maintained consumption levels.

Such profligacy has led to levels of debt that will become unsustainable if we do not act.

A long term alternative requires some capacity to write down debt where it has reached excessive levels.

America, too, will manage to muddle through again leaving even higher levels of debt for the future.

Moreover, the IMF s share in crisis countries total external debt has reached unprecedented and systemically problematic levels.

Reinhart and Rogoff s research broadly shows that GDP growth is slower at high levels of public debt.

In 2012, French government debt levels reached 1.8 trillion euros, the equivalent of 90 of French GDP.

In some countries with high levels of debt and impaired growth, fiscal stimulus could raise the risk premium on sovereign debt and be counterproductive others have more flexibility.

If high national debt is associated with slow economic growth, is it because excessive debt impedes growth, or because slow growth causes countries to accumulate more debt?

Promotion of confidence building at local, national, regional and international levels

He demanded an immediate action on the diplomatic and national levels

This will be measurable and comparable at national and international levels.

With governments around the world (including Germany s) accumulating unprecedented levels of peacetime debt, markets are worrying about sustainability.

Private leverage levels, as much as the public debt burden, must therefore be treated as crucial economic variables.

But Portugal s debt levels are still highly problematic by historical benchmarks (based on my research with Carmen Reinhart).