Deficit related content 

Country could lose structural funds worth 1.7% of GDP. Hungary stands to lose access to European Union cohesion funds as a penalty for fiscal laxity. The European Commission...

Measures announced after deficit target for 2011 missed; package welcomed by European Commission. The Spanish government announced a package of spending cuts and tax...

Since the summer, smart consolidation of public finances has given way to growth-impairing cuts. In June, it was Greece. In August, it was France, Italy, Portugal and Spain....

A failure to book public-private partnerships on balance-sheets allows governments to drive a hole through plans to cap deficits. On 9 December, the EU's member states –...

Budget agreement clears the way for formation of a government. Belgian politicians have reached agreement on a federal budget that aims to cut the deficit to 2.8% of...

Growth has come to a standstill, Commission says, as five member states are told to do more to cut deficits. Economic recovery in the EU has come to a standstill and there...

Cutting spending can stimulate growth – but it will not in the UK's case. Visit London nowadays and you will notice something strange going on: the worse the British...

Eurobonds should be coupled with fiscal rules. The day of the eurobond may be near. What was once a quack's idea for resolving Europe's financial crisis is now the only...

The US debt-ceiling debate may yet worsen, but one should not overlook what politicians can actually accomplish. These days, the United States media are full of ordinary...

The Greek crisis looks like a re-run of an earlier, frightening sovereign-debt crisis. Once upon a time, there was a country plagued by large deficits, high inflation, and...

A benign interest-rate environment and sustainable growth paths can no longer be assumed. The global economy's most striking feature nowadays is the magnitude and...

Reports look at efforts to cut debt and hit targets, with Spain, Italy and Belgium told to do more to reform. The European Commission has warned that member states'...

The world economy will remain unusually fluid over the next three to five years. Colleagues from around the world recently gathered at PIMCO's headquarters in California...

Post office, ports, telecoms and water companies to be sold. George Papaconstantinou, Greece's finance minister, has announced the sale of stakes in five state-owned Greek...

The markets cannot imagine that the Republicans would be able – or even willing – trigger a catastrophe. John Boehner, the speaker of the United States House of...

It is the level of debt of the private sector that is critical, so fiscal adjustment will not be enough to solve the eurozone's problems. The current crisis in the eurozone...

Government blames severity of recession as Commission plays down revision of figures. Greece's budget deficit for 2010 was significantly larger than its government had...

Government says economy was hit harder than expected as deficit is revised up to 10.5% of economic output. Greece's budget deficit for 2010 has been revised significantly...

The eurozone-wide gains from European bonds are likely to be negligible. Various forms of common ‘European bonds' – more precisely, eurobonds – have been proposed...

National leaders continue to fear the wrath of voters about radical economic reforms. “The Juncker Doctrine is dead” is not the snappiest of slogans, but for the...