Ininterest payments alone exceeded 20 per cent of government revenue in several countries in Africa, Latin America and South Asia Figure 2. The general sales tax was unified at 16 per cent, removing exemptions on food items.
One major weakness of the study was that it omitted impact of important variables such as education, health care and public order and security.
Contractionary fiscal policy, on the other hand, is a measure to increase tax rates and decrease government spending. Meanwhile, progress in reducing the fiscal deficit in Sri Lanka has been slow, in part because of increased spending to mitigate the effects of natural disasters.
Iraq is also benefiting from lower defence expenditures, amid a stabilizing security situation. Excluding Egypt and Libya, the fiscal deficit in North Africa averaged 4.
Since Januarydeteriorating fiscal situations have led to credit rating downgrades in several countries, including Brazil, Chile and Costa Rica. Due to the internal conflict, defence spending remains significant. In Central Africa, after a sharp increase peaking at 8.