Budget deficit 14.2 pc of full-year target at end of January

Hungary’s cash flow-based budget deficit, excluding local councils, amounted to 192.8 billion forint (EUR 619.5m) at the end of January, the economy ministry said in a preliminary release on Thursday.

The deficit reached 14.2 percent of the full-year target.

The central budget ran a 258.9 billion forint deficit, but the social insurance funds had a 49.8 billion surplus and separate state funds were 16.3 billion in the black.

Among expenditures were 327.9 billion forints in advance payments on European Union funding, the ministry said.

Grants awarded under the home purchase subsidy scheme (CSOK) came to 17.2 billion forints, which compares to a full-year allocation of 236.3 billion, the ministry said.

Revenue from VAT, personal income tax and payroll tax were higher in January than in the same month a year earlier, thanks to rising employment and wage hikes, the ministry said, noting that employers had benefited from a payroll tax cut.

The government stands by its 2018 deficit target of 2.4 percent of GDP, the ministry said.

Source: MTI