The article is devoted to the advantages and disadvantages of debt instruments to finance government needs. This topic is relevant because the current economic situation in conjunction with the tasks of breakthrough development requires a sufficient level of sustainability of public finance. To substantiate in detail the possibility of using public debt the article describes the basic peculiarities of budgeting mechanism: what a budget is, its revenue and expenditure, effective budget balancing in case of budget deficit. Within the given framework, the author focuses on the essence of public debt and borrowing, determines their place in the budgeting mechanism, reviews foreign experience and identifies advantages and disadvantages of this t...