United States fiscal cliff

Romania's economy grew at record rates in 2017 due to an increase in consumption since fiscal relaxation.

But some analysts warn that while fast growth looks like good news, the government is neglecting investment and the country is bound to face difficulties in the future.

U.S. President Donald Trump is proposing a $4 trillion-plus budget for next year that projects a $1 trillion or so federal deficit and - unlike the plan he released last year - never comes close to promising a balanced federal ledger even after 10 years.

The Turkish Parliament has approved the government’s 2018 budget, which includes increased spending on defense and projects a rise in the fiscal deficit to 65.9 billion Turkish Liras ($17.28 billion).

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks at the press conference after the Senate vote of the tax reform bill. The Senate has passed the tax reform bill and it will return to the House of Representatives for final approval.  The rewrite of the tax code provides dramatic tax breaks to corporations.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has challenged Congress to raise the government's debt limit in order to free up relief spending for Hurricane Harvey, a disaster that the governor of Texas said had caused up to $180 billion in damage.

Greece's current account surplus shrank in June compared to the same month a year earlier due to a wider trade gap and a deficit in the primary income balance, the Bank of Greece said on Monday.

BELGRADE - The United States national debt will have grown by about $9 trillion to over $19.6 trillion under President Barack Obama, according to the website USdebtclock.org.

The site tracks how much the US debt grows in real time. It shows that when Obama entered the Oval office in 2008, the national debt stood at $10.7 trillion. Thus, the increase is 86 percent.

BELGRADE - The Serbian government on Thursday adopted the 2017 budget bill, with a planned deficit of 1.7 pct of GDP, the lowest-ever in the history of Serbia, the government announced in a statement.

The government is resolved to ensure economic growth and better life for citizens in 2017 as well, the statement said.

The adopted budget bill was sent to the parliament.

BELGRADE - Thanks to successful fiscal consolidation and structural reforms, there has been a notable decline of the fiscal deficit in 2016, which should be 2.1 pct of GDP, says NBS Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic.

"The public debt ratio is expected to drop for the first time since 2008, a year sooner than expected," Tabakovic said at the presentation of the November inflation report.

BELGRADE - The total 2016 budget deficit could be half of the planned level - around 2 pct of GDP, Serbia's Fiscal Council said Monday, noting that fiscal trends in the first seven months of the year had been excellent.