GOVERNMENT BUDGET BALANCE AND DEBT SUSTAINABILITY IN THE VISEGRAD GROUP

Global economic crisis drew more attention of researchers and policy makers to fiscal sustainability. The paper focuses on empirical analysis of public finance consolidation and debt burden in countries of Central Europe integrated in The Visegrad Group (V4). Existing literature indicates that debt sustainability is becoming a vital element of sound macroeconomic policies but its assessment is not always clear. Our results of empirical analysis provide projections of debt dynamics scenarios based on interest rates-growth differentials in individual countries of the V4 and they suggest consolidation strategies in analysed countries should be based on the expenditure side of public finances.