But over a longer period of time international  BIS Review 14/2005  1  borrowing kept close to zero stabilizes a country's ratio of international obligations to its gross domestic product (GDP).1 When this liability ratio is stable, a nation's saving is implicitly financing most of its domestic investment.
Persistent borrowing, keeping investment above saving, may be possible, but it is not common, and in any case it automatically implies a buildup of international liabilities relative to its national output. If a nation wants to have its investment and not pay increasing shares of income in interest or dividends, it has to finance this investment by its own national saving.