The effect of fiscal rules on public borrowing cost: A study on European Union countries

In this study, the impact of fiscal rules on public borrowing costs in selected EU countries between 2001 and 2018 was analyzed. In traditional economic doctrine, it has been argued that the level of public borrowing costs is closely related to the analysis of the financial and macroeconomic consequences of public debt accumulation. In this study, the effect of the public debt level and the fiscal rule index was tested econometrically to analyze the components of interest rate developments. The empirical evidence obtained shows that in all cases, the improvement in the fiscal rule index leads to lower long-term interest rates, while public borrowing negatively affects borrowing costs by causing debt sustainability problems after a certain threshold value. The results of the analysis show that the adoption of fiscal rule practices will contribute to establishing "fiscal credibility", which represents confidence in the government's fiscal policies and their ability to fulfill their financial obligations, and to enable countries to finance their deficits at a lower cost.