Learn English – Another phrase for “difficult task is set for somebody”

phrase-choicephrase-request

All I can formulate is the phrase "difficult task is set for somebody". I feel it sounds clumsy. What is a natural phrase to convey the following meaning?

A difficult task is set for the government in the near future, on the one hand – to keep the budget, on the other hand – to ensure support for businesses in entrepreneurial and investment activities.

Best Answer

One phrase sometimes used is herculean task, a metaphor based on the labors of Hercules.

TFD defines herculian as:

herculean (adj.) requiring tremendous effort, strength, etc: a herculean task.

Although Hercules accomplished his tasks long ago, the phrase is still in vogue. You can find many instances of it in contemporary news articles, like this one:

As genotyping and companion diagnostics are used more widely in clinical care, determining the ‘best’ therapy for a given patient will become a massively complex task. Considering all the combinations of genomic risk factors, drug interactions and phenotypic influences, selecting the most appropriate therapy will be a Herculean task. (Source)

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