Public finances in OECD countries are under significant pressure. A combination of higher debt servicing costs, growing spending needs such as national defence and demographic shifts have contributed to higher public spending, as have support measures for businesses and households in the wake of recent energy price shocks. Revenue collection has not kept pace, amid slower economic growth and a decline in public and private investment, leading to higher debt levels.
Governments are facing difficult decisions in managing their public finances going forward.
Restoring Public Finances is a timely resource to support them in these efforts. The report provides a comprehensive stocktaking of savings measures that OECD countries are implementing in 2025-2026 to make their public spending more focused, efficient and effective. It serves as a knowledge base for policymakers, public servants, and civil society to make the most effective choices in managing public finances. In each expenditure area, it explores the various paths, choices and trade-offs governments are making, drawing on OECD data and analysis. It also analyses the revenue enhancing measures that governments are implementing.
The report details ongoing efforts by governments to reorganise their operations to be more efficient, outlines how new digital technologies paired with bureaucratic simplifications can increase these gains and highlights the role quality budget institutions can play in supporting governments to restore public finances. These institutions provide governments with the tools to keep expenditures in check, and to allocate funding effectively to the priorities that matter most.
Enhancing public understanding of the trade-offs involved in spending and revenue collection decisions in the current global context will be essential. The companion to this report, “The People and the Budget” sets out concrete ways to raise awareness of fiscal matters as part of fiscal reform efforts.
Taken together, the insights in this report will support governments in laying the foundations for sound, sustainable budgets, effective public spending and long-term growth and prosperity.
Mathias Cormann
OECD Secretary-General