The rising cost of servicing public debt: challenges for fiscal policy in a crisis environment

Abstract

The study is devoted to the challenges for the fiscal policies of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, resulting from the strong growth of public debt and its servicing costs under the conditions of the pandemic and war shocks. The purpose of the study is to answer the questions: i) what factors caused the sharp increase in sovereign debt yields? ii) is there a correlation between the degree of implementation of sound economic governance (SEG) principles and the cost of servicing sovereign debt? ii) how strong was the response of the sovereign deficit and debt to the shocks caused by the pandemic and war in Ukraine? iii) does the rising cost of servicing debt threaten the sustainability of public finances? v) do the adopted SEG principles remain relevant during periods of shocks? The study covered the 6 largest economies in this part of Europe, i.e. Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, and Slovakia, but its results apply indirectly to many other countries. The results were confronted with a plan for reforming the EU’s economic governance system in order to identify the fundamental challenges facing the countries studied in this context. On the basis of the study, recommendations were put forward for shaping the assumptions of the state debt management strategy and multi-year financial plans.