Good news? Budget deficit narrows in Hungary

Hungary’s cash flow-based budget deficit narrowed to 2,443.3 billion forints (EUR 6.1bn) at the end of July on a 213 billion forint surplus for the month, the finance ministry said in a preliminary release of data on Thursday.

The central budget had a deficit of 2,473.2 billion forints at the end of the month and the social security funds were 138.5 billion in the red, but separate state funds were 168.4 billion in the black.

The ministry attributed the July surplus to government measures taken this year improving the room for fiscal manoeuvre by around 1,000 billion forints.

Interest expenditures came to 2,217.0 billion forints in January-July, up 700.9 billion forints from the same period a year earlier.

Revenue from taxes and contributions climbed 9.9 percent from the base period.

The ministry affirmed the government’s commitment to improving balance indicators and said the 4.5 percent of GDP deficit target for the year was achievable.

“With the improvement of fiscal room for manoeuvre, the economy will return to the sustainable growth path,” it said.

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