As debt and borrowing costs rise, interest payments are taking up a growing share of Belgium’s budget. Without action, they will increasingly squeeze the resources available for essential public services and for meeting ageing, defence and climate-related spending needs. A strengthened multi-year fiscal strategy, supported by federal and regional governments, should combine expenditure restraint and efficiency gains with tax reform.

By Caroline Klein, OECD Economics Department

Finding affordable housing has become more difficult in Switzerland. Recent OECD work has identified a number of policy reforms that could help ensure that housing supply grows in line with rising demand, and that existing residential areas and dwellings can be used more effectively.

by Priscilla Fialho, OECD Economics Department

Policymakers are looking beyond household income and firm size as criteria to better target energy support measures. Mobility needs, energy vulnerability, and sector-based exposure are factors that can help direct support to those most in need.

by Cassie Castle and Eugenia Brotons Batista, OECD Economics Department

OECD governments face growing long-term fiscal pressures from high debt and deficits, rising financing costs, ageing populations and the increasing cost of public services. New estimates from the OECD Long-Term Model assess the scale of the fiscal adjustment needed.

by Yvan Guillemette, OECD Economics Department

Monetary policy tightening after QE has led to central bank losses, largely because of higher interest payments on reserves (deposits held by commercial banks at the central bank). As a response, some central banks have tiered reserves, ceasing to remunerate part of them.

by Masatoshi Ando and Álvaro Pina, OECD Economics Department

The UK is pursuing one of its most ambitious devolution programmes in decades. Yet the success of devolution will depend not only on which responsibilities and decision-making powers are transferred to local governments, but also on whether local institutions have the capacity to use them effectively.

Daniela Glocker, OECD Economics Department

Despite recent progress, the perceived effectiveness of the public administration remains low. To reduce the administrative burden and raise public spending efficiency it is key to further simplify and digitalise administrative procedures and improve data sharing and policy impact evaluation.

by Enes Sunel, Robert Grundke

Public debt is approaching 120% of GDP, above its 2021 peak and a sharp rise since the end of 2023. To preserve fiscal room for manoeuvre, France must restore fiscal sustainability through tighter control of public spending, complemented in the short term by additional revenue measures.

Also available in French

by Lilas Demmou, OECD Economics Department

La dette publique approche 120 % du PIB, au-dessus de son pic de 2021 et en forte hausse depuis fin 2023. Pour préserver ses marges de manœuvre, la France doit rétablir sa soutenabilité budgétaire par une meilleure maîtrise des dépenses, complétée à court terme par davantage de recettes.

Aussi disponible en anglais.

par Lilas Demmou, Département des affaires économiques de l’OCDE

Demographic headwinds are set to weaken economic growth in OECD countries over the coming decades. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) provides opportunities for productivity gains, potentially alleviating labour shortages and boosting economic growth.

By Christophe André and Matthias Schief, OECD Economics Department