Hungary posts 10-month surplus of 185.3 million euros

Budapest, November 21 (MTI) – Hungary posted a cashflow budget surplus of 57.3 billion forints (EUR 185.3m) at the end of October, marking the first time the central budget finished October in the black, the economy ministry said in a release of fresh data on Monday.

The budget surplus, which excludes local councils, came to 59.7 billion forints in October alone.

The central budget posted a deficit of 32.5 billion forints at the end of the month, while the social insurance funds and separate state funds had surpluses of 8.4 billion and 81.4 billion forints, respectively.

When the first reading of the October data was released, Economy Minister Mihaly Varga said tax revenue was higher than expected, with corporate tax revenue up 131.6 billion forints and VAT revenue 80 billion forints higher compared with the base period.

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Varga said he would propose topping up budget allocations for investments as well as credit for exports because of the favourable balance. In a summary of the data, the ministry said the favourable development of fiscal trends this year would allow for the financing of new programmes and goals while keeping state debt on a declining path.

The ministry said revenue from corporate tax, VAT, excise tax, personal income tax and payroll tax as well as payments related to state-owned assets were “up significantly” from the base period.

Corporate tax revenue rose by 45 percent to 425.6 billion forints, VAT revenue edged up by 1 percent to 2.6 trillion forints, excise tax revenue increased by 2 percent to 832.1 billion forints, personal income tax revenue rose a little more than 1 percent to 1.4 trillion forints and revenue from payroll tax climbed 7 percent to 3.7 trillion forints. Revenue related to state-owned assets reached 122.3 billion forints in January-October.

Expenditures were down 404.1 billion forints at 13.9 trillion forints, falling on lower co-financing for European Union-funded projects, lower spending on contributions and guarantees and lower interest expenditures, the ministry said.

Source: MTI