Old Curses, New Approaches? Fiscal Benchmarks for Oil-Producing Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

Buoyant oil prices have allowed oil-producing countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA OPCs) to increase oil exports and fiscal revenues, providing them with resources necessary to address the pressing social needs. To preclude another boom-bust cycle, this paper advocates the definition of a fiscal benchmark anchored in sustainability grounds, following Leigh- Olters (2006). The difference between current primary deficits and those that could be maintained after oil reserves are exhausted represent an indication of the degree to which fiscal positions will have to be adjusted-either gradually, while the overall balances remain in surplus, or abruptly, once oil revenues begin to dwindle.Oil revenues;Oil exports;oil production, oil reserves, oil and gas, gas reserves, oil prices, fiscal policy, gas production, oil producers, primary deficit, government expenditure, natural resources, government spending, oil-producing countries, public spending, public expenditure, fiscal sustainability, fiscal positions, fiscal space, oil companies, fiscal balances, opec, oil sector, public debt, oil exporting countries, fiscal response, fiscal deficit, tax system, sustainable fiscal policy, fiscal stance, fiscal deficits, oil exploration, economic studies, fiscal policies, fiscal adjustment, fiscal strategy, fiscal policy formulation, international oil prices, probable gas reserves, international oil companies, fiscal expansion, fiscal revenues, fiscal consolidation, fiscal vulnerability, fiscal management, fiscal expansions, probable reserves, budget constraint, capital expenditure, extractive industries, primary fiscal balance, hydrocarbon reserves, oil market, renewable resources, efficiency of government expenditure, debt obligations, fiscal position, interest expenditure, tax policy, fiscal crises, budgetary control, nonrenewable resources, fiscal sustainability analyses, excessive borrowing, fiscal restraint, reducing flaring, expenditure composition, higher oil prices, sustainable fiscal deficit, fiscal stimuli, energy information administration, tax revenues, capital expenditures, fiscal balance, geological survey, primary expenditure, medium-term expenditure frameworks, tax collections