Public Debt Structure and Dynamics in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania

This paper attempts to consider in a systematic way the developments of the public debt in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania during the 1990.s. After a brief outline of the public indebtedness of the four countries before 1989, it examines the public debt dynamics after 1990 and tries to capture its main determinants: to what extend the changes in the public debt ratio to GDP were caused by fiscal policy as opposed to other factors, like the difference between the growth rate of the economy and the effective interest rate on debt. The structure of the public debt is shown and main changes are summarised. The paper also tries to assess the implications of the countries. indebtedness to their further fiscal sustainability.