This paper analyzes the public indebtedness and its incidence in the territorial development of the Departamento del Atlántico (Colombia). A mixed research approach with analyticaldescriptive scope and a concurrent triangulation design was proposed. The results show that the use of indebtedness is limited by two variables, population and level of current income of free destination. However, current incomes are not enough to cover the investment needs, which affects the development of the territory.