Public finances

The global financial crisis led to a significant deterioration of the state of public finances and the situation only started to improve after 2015. The exceptional health and economic circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 epidemic led to a renewed deficit and an increase in public debt in 2020, and the Government has taken on the burden of mitigating the impact of the epidemic through support measures. The state of public finances improved again in 2021 and 2022. Today, the short-term challenges and the challenges of the green and digital transformation and an ageing population are increasingly intertwined, which will have an impact on the future development of public finances when it comes to finding a balance between the stabilising and developmental role of public finances.