Country notes

Each country note has the following structure: Section 1 gives a brief overview of the main economic developments in recent years in the relevant country including real GDP, fiscal balance and gross debt figures. This presentation is mainly based on the “OECD Economic Outlook No. 88”, OECD Economic Outlook: Statistics and Projections (database) (OECD, 2010a), and uses OECD definitions of general government balance and gross debt which may differ from national definitions (see Box 2.1). Section 2 presents the government’s fiscal consolidation strategies as manifested in fiscal balance and gross debt targets over the medium term, the size of the consolidation, and the composition of expenditures and revenues. Section 2 is based on information from the national authorities (or publicly available information) which may use other definitions of fiscal balance and gross debt than the OECD in Section 1. For example, most EU countries have reported such figures on a Maastricht basis. Major consolidation measures are given in Section 3, quantified to the largest extent possible in local currencies and current prices annually. Expenditure measures are split between operational and programme measures and other initiatives. Revenue measures are listed without categories. Updates and additional consolidation measures may have been adopted in member countries after the data collection ended in November/December 2010, but are outside the scope of this analysis. Table 1 summarises the government’s specific consolidation measures and their impact. The impact is given in per cent of nominal GDP, calculated by the OECD Secretariat by using nominal forecasts of GDP from the “OECD Economic Outlook No. 88”, OECD Economic Outlook: Statistics and Projections (database) (OECD, 2010a). Eventual pension reforms are also included in this section. Section 4 provides recent or planned institutional reforms. Table 2 summarises the government’s fiscal consolidation plan as presented in Section 2 and corresponding figures.