Проблеми и предизвикателства на фискалната политика в страните от Балканския регион
Issues and Challenges of Fiscal Policy in the Balkan Region Countries

Author(s): Presiana Nenkova, Gergana Mihaylova-Borisova, Milena Kovachevich, Nelly Popova, Diyana Metalova, Velichka Nikolova, Angel Angelov
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Economy, Business Economy / Management, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment, Fiscal Politics / Budgeting, Socio-Economic Research
Published by: Университет за национално и световно стопанство (УНСС)
Keywords: fiscal policy; Balkan countries; tax systems; government spending; government debt
Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the collective monographic work is to explore the problems and challenges faced by the fiscal policy in the Balkan region countries. In this regard, the national experience in fiscal governance has been studied in a comparative perspective in the period 2004-2020, covering the years before, during and after the global financial and economic crisis and the first pandemic year 2020. The first chapter provides a comparative analysis of the Balkan countries in terms of key macroeconomic, demographic and social indicators in the period 2004-2020, and identifies the importance of a set of factors, having a direct and indirect impact on fiscal governance and the stability of public finances in a particular country. The second chapter systematizes the characteristics of the tax systems of the countries included in the study based on a review of the tax reforms implemented in the last two decades and their driving forces. The third chapter highlights the effects on the structure of the expenditure side of the budget from undertaken reforms, aimed at achieving specific socio-economic goals and outlines the problems faced by the public expenditure management through identifying the circumstances that will continue to have a determining importance for the size of some expenditure groups. Chapter four assesses the efficiency of government spending in the Balkan countries, while chapter five presents the differences and similarities in terms of their debt sustainability. Chapter six traces the degree of convergence of the Balkan economies with those of the EU and the Eurozone countries, and chapter seven summarises the challenges faced by the fiscal policies of the Balkan countries.

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