The Government budget balance, also commonly referred to as general government balance, public budget balance, or public fiscal balance, is the overall result of a country's general government budget over the course of an accounting period, usually one year. It includes all government levels (from national to local) and public social security funds. The budget balance is the difference between government revenues (e.g., tax) and spending. A positive balance is called a government budget surplus, and a negative balance is called a government budget deficit.
The government budget balance is used to assess the fiscal health of a country. It is further differentiated by closely related terms such as primary balance and structural balance (also known as cyclically-adjusted balance) of the general government. The primary budget balance equals the government budget balance before interest payments. The structural budget balances attempts to adjust for the impacts of the real GDP changes in the national economy. Keynesian economics advocates a government budget deficit during recession or downturn as long as it is limited enough to render the structural government budget balance positive.
Read more about Government Budget Balance: Primary Deficit, Total Deficit, and Debt, Structural Deficits, Cyclical Deficits, and The Fiscal Gap, Early Deficits, Deficit Spending
Famous quotes containing the words government, budget and/or balance:
““A house divided against itself cannot stand.” I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“The United States is the only great nation whose government is operated without a budget. The fact is to be the more striking when it is considered that budgets and budget procedures are the outgrowth of democratic doctrines and have an important part in developing the modern constitutional rights.... The constitutional purpose of a budget is to make government responsive to public opinion and responsible for its acts.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“True balance requires assigning realistic performance expectations to each of our roles. True balance requires us to acknowledge that our performance in some areas is more important than in others. True balance demands that we determine what accomplishments give us honest satisfaction as well as what failures cause us intolerable grief.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)