The great crisis and fiscal institutions in eastern and central Europe and central Asia

Luca Barbone, Roumeen Islam and Luis Alvaro Sanchez

No 5453, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: This paper examines fiscal outcomes in Eastern and Central European countries before and during the global crisis of 2008-2010. These outcomes are evaluated in the context of overall changes in fiscal institutions and global market conditions. Eastern and Central European countries’ situations improved dramatically in the pre-crisis period as tax revenues boomed, and fiscal institutions were reformed. Expenditures increased quite significantly in real terms for some of the countries in the pre-crisis era so that when tax revenues collapsed in the wake of the crisis, the countries were left with large deficits. Institutional reform helped countries manage their fiscal situations better, but the crisis also exposed shortcomings of the status quo. In the post-crisis period, fiscal institutions aimed at promoting fiscal discipline are being strengthened. Governments will also need to take a closer look at the sustainability of current expenditure patterns, particularly the strong emphasis on social expenditures.

Keywords: Public Sector Expenditure Policy; Debt Markets; Fiscal Adjustment; Subnational Economic Development; Public Sector Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-cwa, nep-eec, nep-pbe and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSC ... ered/PDF/WPS5453.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5453

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().