Editing Economy of Denmark (section)

=== Budget and fiscal position ===

Danish fiscal policy is generally considered healthy. Government net debt was close to zero at the end of 2017, amounting to DKK 27.3&nbsp;billion, or 1.3% of GDP.<ref name=netdebt>{{in lang|da}} [https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/nyt/NytHtml?cid=26666 Nyt fra Danmarks Statistik nr. 126, 23 March 2018. Offentligt kvartalsregnskab 4. kvt. 2017: Fortsat fald i den offentlige finansielle nettogæld.]</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/governance/general-government-financial-wealth/indicator/english_325ddad1-en |title=General government financial wealth |doi=10.1787/325ddad1-en |doi-access=free |website=OECDiLibrary|year=2018}}</ref> The government sector having a fair amount of financial assets as well as liabilities, government gross debt amounted to 36.1% of GDP at the same date.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://statistikbanken.dk/edp3 |website=StatBank Denmark |title=Table EDP3: Denmark's EMU-debt and EMU-deficit by function (% of GDP) |access-date=24 November 2018}}</ref> The gross EMU-debt as percentage of GDP was the sixth-lowest among all 28 EU member countries, only Estonia, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Romania having a lower gross debt.<ref name="edp2">{{cite web| url = http://statistikbanken.dk/edp2 |website=StatBank Denmark |title=Table EDP2: EU-countries, public finances by country and function (in % of GDP) |access-date=24 November 2018}}</ref> Denmark had a government budget surplus of 1.1% of GDP in 2017.<ref name=edp2/>

Long-run annual fiscal projections from the Danish government as well as the independent Danish Economic Council, taking into account likely future fiscal developments caused by demographic developments etc. (e.g. a likely ageing of the population caused by a considerable expansion of [[life expectancy]]), consider the Danish fiscal policy to be overly sustainable in the long run. In Spring 2018, the so-called Fiscal Sustainability Indicator was calculated by the Danish government and the Danish Economic Council to be 1.2% and 0.9% of GDP, respectively.<ref name=convergence>{{cite web| url = https://uk.fm.dk/publications/2018/denmarks-convergence-programme-2018| title = Denmarks Convergence Programme 2018. Website of Danish Ministry of Finance| date = 16 May 2018| access-date = 24 November 2018| archive-date = 25 November 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181125031528/https://uk.fm.dk/publications/2018/denmarks-convergence-programme-2018| url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://dors.dk/vismandsrapporter/dansk-oekonomi-foraar-2018| title = Danish Economic Council: Danish Economy, Spring 2018. English Summary |page=242 | date = 14 May 2018}}</ref> This implies that under the assumptions employed in the projections, fiscal policy could be permanently loosened (via more generous public expenditures and/or lower taxes) by c. 1% of GDP while still maintaining a stable government debt-to-GDP ratio in the long run.