The second main policy challenge is to secure fiscal sustainability in the medium term through the strengthening of tax revenues and the implementation of prudent fiscal policies reflected in the stabilization of the rising debt-to-GDP ratio and the reduction of the fiscal deficit to levels below 2 percent of GDP.
When oil prices collapsed, the end of the oil boom brought about the need for a sharp fiscal adjustment and total expenditure had to be reduced from an average of 56 percent of non-energy GDP in 1980 – 1985 to 36 percent in the nineties.