Such institutions are already in place in many countries, in particular in small, open economies. Let me mention as examples Belgium (High Council of Finance), The Netherlands (the Central Planning Bureau provides independent macroeconomic and budgetary forecasts), Denmark (Economic Council) and Austria (Government Debt Committee). In Luxembourg, to a certain extent, the BCL assumes the role of an independent fiscal institution.
Accordingly the BCL staff continuously analyses the situation and structure of the Luxembourg economy. This enables the BCL to comment on the fiscal sustainability and time consistency of policy actions taken by the government. Examples for this are the general government budget deficit, which amounted to 1.9% of GDP in 2005 after significant surpluses from 1993 to 2002 and a balanced situation in 2003.