Government debt as a contradictory factor of economic growth

After the global financial crisis, the level of public debt in most developed countries has not decreased and it’s is increasing every year. Studies on the effect of public debt on economic growth show that public debt can both accelerate economic growth and slow it down. Public debt financing through the issuance of bonds is controversial: the government can successfully raise funds to invest in accelerating the future growth of the economy, but this approach can give a slowdown in the current period due to lower demand in other sectors of the economy. The article analyzes the approaches to determine the safe level of debt. It is concluded that the assessment of a safe level of debt requires not only a comprehensive analysis of various factors affecting debt sustainability, but also considering various scenarios of the possible materialization of government passives.