Government at Risk: Contingent Liabilities and Fiscal Risk (World Bank Publication)

Governments at risk are facing major fiscal challenges as a result of their contingent liabilities. Contingent liabilities dubbed "hidden deficits" account for a large share of the rise in government debt and tend to remain outside the framework of conventional public financial analysis and institutions. In many countries, the reality or prospect of unbudgeted fiscal risks coming due has been a wake-up call to extend fiscal management beyond the budgetary framework. This book offers practical guidance to governments seeking to improve the management of fiscal risks. It explores difficult analytical and institutional challenges confronting reformers attempting to manage government fiscal risks. While discussing the inadequacies of conventional practices of dealing with fiscal risk, this book presents recent advances in managing fiscal risk and thereby helps to push the practice of fiscal analysis and management into the 21st century. A copublication of the World Bank and Oxford University Press.