Fiscal Indicators in Latin-American Countries

Date
May 2005
The purpose of this document is to provide a comparative analysis of Latin-American government finance statistics including public expenditures, income, overall balances, and debt stocks. The paper explores some of the problems that arise in country comparisons and in regional harmonization of fiscal targets, an important issue when considering common goals of overall balances and public debt. The paper also discusses some of the new initiatives such as: applying accrual accounting and registering all variations of public net worth; including economic cycle and relative prices fluctuations in the estimation of overall balances and public debt; seeking to protect investment in strategic areas; and establishing priority areas in social expenditures.