Retiring an internally held debt and externally held debt

Question

Contrast the influence of retiring an internally held debt and externally held debt.

Answer 1

Paying off an internally held debt would include buying back government bonds.  It could present a difficulty of income distribution since holders of the government bonds normally have higher incomes than the average taxpayer.  However paying off an internally held debt would not burden the economy like a whole—the money utilized to pay off the debt would keep on within the domestic economy.  In paying off an externally held debt, people abroad could utilize the proceeds of the bonds sales to buy products or other assets from the Canada.  However, the dollars gained could be simply exchanged for foreign currency & brought back to their home country.  It decrease Canada’s foreign reserves holdings & may lower dollar exchange rate.