Fiscal policy is the deliberate adjustment of government spending, borrowing or taxation to help achieve desirable economic objectives. There are two types of fiscal policy, discretionary and automatic. Discretionary meaning policies which are put into place via one off policy changes whereas automatic policy’s refer to ones which happen naturally within an economy such as Fiscal drag.
The financial crisis of 2008 made the government expenditure change its priorities vitally. They had to begin increased lending to banks to help keep them financially afloat. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the central government net borrowing requirement in 2009, of approximately £150b, was almost double initial estimates. Simply due to the fact the government had to lend a lot more to banks than excepted due to the Recession. However this increased expenditure can add to the national debt and could lead to a fiscal deficit.
Fiscal deficits occur when the revenue received by a government is less than spending during a financial year. A rising national debt can happen when tax revenues fall and government spending rises as the economy slows down or goes into recession, or