Fiscal Rules for the Western Balkans
Policy toward fiscal rules is an important issue in the countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia). According to a rough estimate, the countries with rules (all but North Mace...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/992481566310183572/Fiscal-Rules-for-the-Western-Balkans http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32315 |
| Summary: | Policy toward fiscal rules is an
important issue in the countries of the Western Balkans
(Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North
Macedonia, and Serbia). According to a rough estimate, the
countries with rules (all but North Macedonia) have complied
with their debt and overall-deficit rules a little more than
half the time. An online survey, conducted for this paper,
suggests that public understanding of the rules is limited,
which may reduce the political pressure for compliance. To
get debt down to prudent levels, Albania and Montenegro will
need a strong commitment to complying with their fiscal
rules and will often have to do more than their deficit
rules require. The following principles should guide future
policy toward fiscal rules: more emphasis should be given to
ensuring that fiscal rules are widely understood and enjoy
the support of a broad range of stakeholders; policy toward
the rules should be consistent with accession to the
European Union, but the rules should be simpler than the
European Union's and the debt limits lower; limits in
rules should not be mistaken for targets; and public
financial management should be improved to support the
implementation of rules. |
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