Internal debt

Public finance
Policies Agricultural Economic Energy Industrial Investment Social Trade Fiscal Monetary Policy mix
Fiscal policy Budget policy Debt external internal Deficit / surplus Finance ministry Fiscal union Revenue Spending deficit Tax
Monetary policy Bank reserves requirements Discount window Gold reserves Interest rate Monetary authority central bank currency board Monetary base Monetary (currency) union Money supply
Trade policy Balance of trade Free trade Gains from trade Non-tariff barrier Protectionism Tariff Trade bloc Trade creation Trade diversion Trade / commerce ministry
Revenue Spending Non-tax revenue Tax revenue Discretionary spending Mandatory spending
Optimum Balanced budget Economic growth Price stability
Reform Fiscal adjustment Monetary reform

Internal debt or domestic debt is the part of the total government debt in a country that is owed to lenders within the country. Internal debt's complement is external debt. Commercial banks, other financial institutions etc. constitute the sources of funds for the internal debts

Internal public debt owed by a government (money a government borrows from its citizens) is part of the country's national debt. It is a form of fiat creation of money, in which the government obtains finance not by creating it de novo, but by borrowing it. The money created is in the form of treasury securities or securities borrowed from the central bank.

These may be traded but will only rarely be spent on goods and services. In this way, the expected increase in inflation due to the increase in national wealth is lower than if the government had simply created the money de novo and increased the more liquid forms of wealth (i.e., the money supply).

References

Further reading

Reinhart, Carmen M.; Rogoff, Kenneth S. (2011). "The Forgotten History of Domestic Debt". Economic Journal. 121 (552): 319–350. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0297.2011.02426.x. JSTOR 41236982.