23. While the 30 March 1999 fiscal stimulus package is necessary to try to
generate a return of confidence, the obvious longer-term cost is the larger public sector
deficit. Since the start of crisis, public sector deficit has more than doubled. The ratio of
public sector deficit (including state enterprises) to GDP is expected to increase to about 45%
by the end of 1999 from about 18% at the beginning of the crisis.17