Factbox - Austerity measures outside the euro zone

(Reuters) - Following is a summary of austerity measures implemented by European countries outside the euro zone:

* UNITED KINGDOM:

-- Chancellor George Osborne, in the harshest budget in a generation, promised in June to bring a record fiscal deficit of 11 percent of GDP down to 1 percent in five years. He announced a rise in VAT sales tax to 20 percent from 17.5 from January 2011, and a new 2 billion pound levy on banks.

-- Osborne plans to cut government spending by a quarter over the next four years. Only the National Health Service and development aid will be spared the axe.

-- The government coalition has already cut spending by 6.25 billion pounds in the current year and scrapped a 55 billion pound school rebuilding and refurbishment programme.

-- It will also accelerate an increase in the state pension age to 66 years from 65.

* ROMANIA:

-- Suffering from a deep recession and reliant on a 20 billion euro IMF-led aid package to shore up investor support, Romania is cutting public sector salaries by 25 percent.

-- It has raised VAT by 5 percentage points to 24 percent.

-- It pledged to cut numbers of state employees by 70,000 to 1.29 million by 2011 and hiked individual and corporate taxes.

* BULGARIA:

-- Bulgaria was forced in April to delay plans to adopt the euro after it revealed a hidden budget deficit for 2009 due to dozens of unaccounted procurement deals signed by the previous government.

-- It has increased its projected deficit shortfall to 4.8 percent of GDP in 2010 due to delayed payments to businesses, extra funds for healthcare and infrastructure and falling revenues, but plans to trim that to below 2.5 percent in 2011.

-- The government trimmed 2010 spending plans by 900 million levs ($584 million), cutting funds to almost all ministries.

* CZECH REPUBLIC:

-- The centre-right government plans to cut the 2011 public sector gap to 4.6 percent of GDP from 5.3 percent seen this year via spending cuts.

Main savings measures for 2011 include:

-- A 10 percent across-the-board cut in most operating spending, including the sum for state workers' wages, excluding teachers. This should bring 31 billion crowns ($1.61 billion).

-- Trim wages of senior public officials and lawmakers.

-- Reduce the annual state subsidy on housing construction savings by half to 1,500 crowns per person per year.

-- Cut social benefits, reduce maternity leave and tighten unemployment benefits.

* DENMARK:

-- The centre-right minority government plans to save $4 billion over the next three years to bring Denmark back within the EU's deficit limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product.

-- It expects nil growth in public expenditure in 2010 and 0.6 percent growth in 2011. It forecasts a public sector deficit of 4.6 percent of GDP for 2010 and 4.4 percent in 2011.

* HUNGARY:

-- Talks between the centre-right Fidesz government that took office in May and the IMF and European Union about economic policy collapsed in July.

-- The government announced a package of measures to keep the 2010 budget deficit at the target of 3.8 percent of GDP agreed by its Socialist predecessor with international lenders.

-- Parliament has enacted a 200 billion forint (about 0.7 percent of GDP) tax levy on the financial sector for both 2010 an 2011, which the IMF said could curb economic growth. The government has also said it would freeze some expenditures at budget institutions to save 120 billion forints.

-- The previous government lifted the main value-added tax (VAT) rate to 25 percent from 20 percent in 2009, cut pensions and passed a law to gradually increase the retirement age.

* ICELAND:

-- Iceland adopted an austerity plan in 2009 to restore public finances in accordance with line with a $2.1 billion International Monetary Fund aid scheme.

-- The plan, which includes a high-income tax, higher capital gains tax, higher employment insurance payments by employers and taxes on sweets and soft drinks, is expected to close a 170 billion Icelandic crown budget gap in the coming years. Iceland has pledged to reach a primary surplus by 2011 and an overall surplus by 2013.

* POLAND:

-- Poland's economy is in better shape than most of its peers, but the centre-right government last month agreed steps to tame a budget deficit expected to hit nearly 7 percent of GDP in 2010. They include a cap on discretionary budget spending, more selloffs of state assets and a 1 point hike in value-added tax, bringing the basic rate to 23 percent.

-- The government aims to tighten retirement rules for uniformed services but has shied away from raising the general retirement age for Poles for now.

-- Poland may consider lowering the level of spending on its armed forces, now fixed by law at 1.95 percent of GDP. President Bronislaw Komorowski has also cited costs as a reason for wanting to bring Polish troops back from Afghanistan by 2012.

* LITHUANIA:

-- Parliament approved fresh austerity measures in June. They include caps on parental leave benefits; a freeze on transfers from a state-run pension fund to private pension funds; extending a two-year freeze on public administration wages beyond end-2010.

-- The minority government is expected to hold a new vote on hiking the retirement ago after parliament returns from recess on Sept 10.

-- Lithuania already cut public sector wages and social benefits and raised taxes last year to curb its deficit, which hit 8.9 percent of GDP in 2009 as the economy contracted 14.8 percent and unemployment surged.

-- Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said no large cuts were planned in the budget 2011.

* LATVIA:

-- Latvia, which has implemented tough budget cuts to qualify for loans from an international bailout, aims to pare its budget deficit by 2.5 percent of GDP to 6 percent in 2011. Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said the target would be partly met by economic growth and larger tax revenues.

-- Under the 7.5 billion euro ($10.2 billion) IMF-led deal agreed in 2008, Latvia had to cut the deficit by 500 million lats ($893 million) in both 2009 and 2010.

-- The minority government, facing an election in October, had said that a further 800-900 million lats of cuts would be needed over 2011 and 2012. The IMF has said Latvia would need to reduce the budget deficit by 395-440 million lats in 2011.

-- Latvia most likely will significantly raise real estate taxes and hike value-added tax on products and services to 18 percent from 10 percent.

Source: Reuters bureaux

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by John Stonestreet)