Hungarian state debt data: spendings are disproportionately huge

The Hungarian central bank (MNB) has released preliminary data this morning. According to it, the government appears to have missed its deficit target of 6.1 percent last year. The central bank’s release shows a deficit of 6.3 percent relative to GDP.

According to the preliminary data of the Financial Accounts, the net financing capacity of the government budget in 2022 was -6.3 percent of GDP (HUF -4223 billion). Meanwhile, including the balance of Eximbank, the net financing capacity was -6.1 percent of GDP (EUR -4093 billion), the MNB report said.

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The year-end disbursement was again huge, with the seasonally adjusted financing needs of the government budget at 10.8 percent of GDP in Q4. This is one of the highest figures ever, Portfolio reports.

Taking into account the debt of Eximbank, the sector’s debt was 72.9 percent of GDP (HUF 48840 billion). In a recent Facebook post, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said that the debt ratio fell more than expected last year: from 76.8 percent to 72.9 percent. The strengthening forint helped the debt-to-GDP ratio in the last quarter by about 1.5 percentage points, Portfolio writes.

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Source: Portfolio