AN EXAMINATION OF FISCAL RULES FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Fiscal rules have become a major focus, especially in the 1990s. Budget deficits in many countries have led to the adoption of fiscal rules at the national level to restore fiscal discipline. Today, fiscal rules are also a very important tool for local governments, which are part of the general government in the public sector. Local governments, as actors with separate legal entities, undertake a significant portion of public services in most countries. In addition, local governments in recent years have taken more authority, resources and responsibility with the reforms of fiscal decentralisation. The growing tendency of local governments is driven by the fiscal rules set by the central government, in order to use their resources effectively in fiscal discipline. Despite the numerous researches on fiscal rules at the national level, there are limited studies that examine fiscal rules at the local level. For this reason, the article examines the types of fiscal rules applied in local governments and assesses the current situation in Turkey.