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Concept
Government budget balance
Summary
The government budget balance, also referred to as the general government balance, public budget balance, or public fiscal balance, is the difference between government revenues and spending. For a government that uses accrual accounting (rather than cash accounting) the budget balance is calculated using only spending on current operations, with expenditure on new capital assets excluded. A positive balance is called a government budget surplus, and a negative balance is a government budget deficit. A government budget presents the government's proposed revenues and spending for a financial year.
The government budget balance can be broken down into the primary balance and interest payments on accumulated government debt; the two together give the budget balance. Furthermore, the budget balance can be broken down into the structural balance (also known as cyclically-adjusted balance) and the cyclical component: the structural budget balance attempts to adjust for the impact of cyclical changes in real GDP, in order to indicate the longer-run budgetary situation.
The government budget surplus or deficit is a flow variable, since it is an amount per unit of time (typically, per year). Thus it is distinct from government debt, which is a stock variable since it is measured at a specific point in time. The cumulative flow of deficits equals the stock of debt when a government employs cash accounting (though not under accrual accounting).
The government fiscal balance is one of three major sectoral balances in the national economy, the others being the foreign sector and the private sector. The sum of the surpluses or deficits across these three sectors must be zero by definition. For example, if there is a foreign financial surplus (or capital surplus) because capital is imported (net) to fund the trade deficit, and there is also a private sector financial surplus due to household saving exceeding business investment, then by definition, there must exist a government budget deficit so all three net to zero.
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