The question how the government debt affects state’s economy, is still under discussion. The goal of the present research is to explore correlations between government debt and such indicators, as GDP, GDP growth rate, debt accumulation rate and budget deficit. Data on 176 world countries were analysed. Significant negative correlation between debt and budget deficit and poor correlation between debt and GDP growth demonstrates that countries spend borrowed money to satisfy current societal needs, rather than for investments in economy. The only exception is the South and East Asia region, where higher debt is associated with higher GDP growth