by Carlo Cottarelli and Philip Gerson
We’re one month into 2013, and if past experience is any guide, by now many people will have all but forgotten the promises they made about the things they planned to do over the coming year.
It’s a time-honored tradition in many countries for people to make resolutions at the New Year, usually involving things that are good for them, like achieving a healthier weight. Unfortunately, it’s also traditional that these commitments quickly fall by the wayside, only to be taken up again next year, usually with the same results.
But unlike many of these resolutions, the ones made by most advanced economies to reduce their 2012 fiscal deficits were by and large kept. The average headline deficit in these countries fell by about ¾ percent of GDP last year, bringing the cumulative deficit decline to 3 percent of GDP since budget shortfalls peaked in 2009. This is good news.
Filed under: Advanced Economies, Economic Crisis, Emerging Markets, Europe, Fiscal policy, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Public debt | Tagged: advanced economies, deficit reduction, fiscal consolidation, fiscal policy, government debt, government spending, IMF, iMFdirect, International Monetary Fund, Japan, United States, United States Federal Reserve | 2 Comments »
