Hungary budget deficit 2 pc / GDP in 2017

Hungary’s budget posted a deficit of 746.3 billion forints in 2017, equivalent to 2 percent of GDP, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Wednesday.

The 2017 deficit rose by 156.9 billion forints, or by 0.3 percentage points of GDP, from 2016.

Government sector revenue increased by 7 percent and expenditure rose by 7.7 percent from 2016.

Commenting on the figures, Economy Minister Mihály Varga told public news channel M1 that the data of the first three months suggested that this year’s deficit target of 2.4 percent of GDP could be maintained and the public debt would continue to fall.

Hungary’s public debt, including the liabilities of state-owned Eximbank, stood at 73.6 percent of GDP at the end of 2017, down from 76 percent at the end of 2016. Excluding Eximbank, the debt was 71.7 percent of GDP, down from 73.9 percent a year earlier, according to the KSH’s latest data.

The government insists Eximbank’s liabilities are not part of the public debt, Varga said.

Source: MTI