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  14, the strict definition of sovereign debt is that part of a country's national debt which is (from an external perspective) subject to sovereign risk, i.e.:
  
  a) owed by the public sector and
  b) expressed in a foreign currency and
  c) owed to a foreign entity.
  
  It expresses the risk that a country might in future have neither the political will nor the foreign currency reserves to settle its international obligations.
  
  Therefore sovereign debt strictly forms only a small part of the UK's national debt. However the media are often so sloppy with terminology that many journalists report on matters financial without knowing what they are talking about. Even Robert Peston admitted recently that he would not have known what Libor was if it had bitten him on the bum.
  
  So in answer to your question, no, pfi obligations are not part of the UK's sovereign debt. But they are part of the national debt according to a strict definition (like that of the rating agencies), but not part of the official ONS figures because they are off-balance sheet items therefore treated as contingent liabilities.
  
  Any clearer?

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