This led to severe macroeconomic imbalances, including large fiscal deficits and strong pressure on the balance of payments. However, the increase in fiscal deficits was reversed by measures to enhance revenue and reduce expenditure (including on wages and salaries), cutting the deficit from around 10 per cent of GDP between 1990 and 1993 to less than 5 per cent from the late 1990s until 2004. This allowed Maldives’ strong growth performance of the 1980s to be maintained during the 1990s.