Fiscal challenges after the global financial crisis : a survey of key issues

The global financial crisis and the response to it have contributed to a sharp increase in public indebtedness in a large number of countries. While there have been episodes of high debt in the past, there are a number of long-term challenges today that are likely to complicate the implementation of sustainable fiscal policies in the coming years. Population aging and climate change are factors that are likely to contribute to rising fiscal pressures and the crisis has highlighted the risks and vulnerabilities stemming from reduced fiscal space. This paper argues that heightened fiscal challenges can only be dealt with successfully by adopting a long-term fiscal planning horizon. The paper analyzes a range of available policy tools that countries have used in the past to improve fiscal management. Particular attention is paid to the role of rules-based policies, improvements in the budget process, better accounting of long-term liabilities in the government budget, the deleterious effects of unproductive expenditures, and the painful trade-offs created by the crisis and the toolkit at hand to address them.