List of countries by government budget

This is the list of countries by government budget. The list includes sovereign states and self-governing dependent territories based upon the ISO standard ISO 3166-1. The following tables show the governmental budget balance, in millions of US dollars or millions of local currency units (LCU, the most commonly used in the country) and as percentage of GDP, based on data published by International Monetary Fund,^[4] World Bank,^{[5][6][7][8][9]} and Central Intelligence Agency.^[10][11]

According to International Monetary Fund, "revenue consists of taxes, social contributions, grants receivable, and other revenue. Revenue increases government's net worth, which is the difference between its assets and liabilities (GFSM 2001, paragraph 4.20). Total expenditure consists of total expense and the net acquisition of nonfinancial assets. Apart from being on an accrual basis, total expenditure differs from the GFSM 1986 definition of total expenditure in the sense that it also takes the disposals of nonfinancial assets into account. Net lending (+) / borrowing (−) is calculated as revenue minus total expenditure. This is a core GFS balance that measures the extent to which general government is either putting financial resources at the disposal of other sectors in the economy and non-residents (net lending), or utilizing the financial resources generated by other sectors and non-residents (net borrowing). This balance may be viewed as an indicator of the financial impact of general government activity on the rest of the economy and non-residents (GFSM 2001, paragraph 4.17). Net lending (+)/borrowing (−) is also equal to net acquisition of financial assets minus net incurrence of liabilities."^[4]

According to World Bank, "revenue is cash receipts from taxes, social contributions, and other revenues such as fines, fees, rent, and income from property or sales. Grants are also considered as revenue but are excluded here. Grants and other revenue include grants from other foreign governments, international organizations, and other government units; interest; dividends; rent; requited, nonrepayable receipts for public purposes (such as fines, administrative fees, and entrepreneurial income from government ownership of property); and voluntary, unrequited, nonrepayable receipts other than grants. Expense is cash payments for operating activities of the government in providing goods and services. It includes compensation of employees (such as wages and salaries), interest and subsidies, grants, social benefits, and other expenses such as rent and dividends."^[12]

According to Central Intelligence Agency, "budget surplus (+) or deficit (−) records the difference between national government revenues and expenditures, expressed as a percent of GDP. A positive (+) number indicates that revenues exceeded expenditures (a budget surplus), while a negative (−) number indicates the reverse (a budget deficit). Normalizing the data, by dividing the budget balance by GDP, enables easy comparisons across countries and indicates whether a national government saves or borrows money. Countries with high budget deficits (relative to their GDPs) generally have more difficulty raising funds to finance expenditures, than those with lower deficits."^[13]