Other publications may include books, quarterly reviews, annual reports and economic bulletins from the ECB, PhD theses and Danmarks Nationalbank’s policies.

Government finance

Fiscal Challenges in Advanced Countries

The global economic crisis has led to historical deterioration of the publicfinances of the advanced countries. In the countries most severely affected, thedevelopment has generated concerns about an outright debt crisis. For manyadvanced countries, government debt as a ratio of the gross domestic product,GDP, will rise to more than 100 per cent if they fail to implement fiscalconsolidation in the coming years. The higher debt as a result of higher interestpayments will make future consolidation more difficult. Moreover, new researchshows that a large debt impedes economic growth through such factors aselevated real interest rates. The extent and duration of the necessary fiscalconsolidation are of a magnitude rarely seen in recent times. ´The need forconsolidation is most pronounced in Japan, Greece, the USA, Ireland and the UK.