Reference no: EM132961743

Research Assignment #5: Public Saving and Government Debt
You need to find information on public saving (government net lending/borrowing), and on accumulated government debt, for your selected country and for Canada. From 2010 to the latest year available. You need to create 3 graphs:
• one from the World Bank Open Data database
• two from the IMF DataMapper
These are both data sources that we have used before. Detailed instructions on how to use the World Bank database are included in the Instructions for Research Assignments 1 and 2. Similarly, detailed instructions for the IMF DataMapper are in the instructions for Research Assignment 1. These are well-designed websites, so you should find it easy to use them again. There will be a demonstration, for Ghana, during the lecture when this is assigned.
Answer the following questions, providing a copy of the graphs to accompany your answers, which should be loaded onto the RA#5 Discussion forum on D2L.

a. "Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (current LCU)" [World Bank database], for your selected country only, from 2010 until the latest year available
This is the annual government budget surplus / deficit in ‘local currency units'.
• What has been the trend, and volatility, of budget surpluses or deficits for your selected country since 2010?

b. "General government net lending/borrowing" (% of GDP) [IMF Datamapper], for your selected country and for Canada, since 2010.
o As the ‘information' for this chart states, "This balance may be viewed as an indicator of
the financial impact of general government activity on the rest of the economy"
o The IMF DataMapper graph automatically starts from 1980; you cannot change that.
o Considering public saving as a proportion of GDP allows comparison between countries.
o However, by introducing GDP, the graph now reflects changes in GDP, as well as changes in public saving.
• What has been the trend, and volatility, of budget surpluses or deficits for your selected country since 2010 (as a proportion of economic output)?
• How does the trend in public saving in your selected country compare with Canada?

c. "General government gross debt (% GDP)" [IMF Datamapper], for your selected country and for Canada.
Government debt represents the accumulation of previous government deficits.
• What has been the trend, and volatility, of government debt (as a proportion of GDP) for your selected country since 2010 (or since 2000 if that provides useful/interesting insight).
• How does the trend in government debt in your selected country compare with Canada?